SHOOTING STARLETS TURN SOUR

From the good, to the very bad and slightly ugly in the space of four days. On Tuesday, Arsenal's young guns went out in front of a packed Emirates Stadium and demolished a full strength Sheffield United 6-0. Four days later and the so-called "first team" go out looking like they've just come back from a tough trip to Eastern Europe for the Champions League.

On an evening where much was expected of the stars of Arsenal, where they were due to show the kids that they're not the only ones who can play, came a huge disappointment. It's hard enough for Arsenal fans to take a 1-0 loss away at a battling Fulham side when their team played badly, but a 2-1 home defeat to a Hull City side who, four years ago, were in the lowest tier of league football in England, and who many people had written of as "no-hopers" for this season. Even when Arsenal had woken up in the second half, and nicked a scrappy, "un-arsenal-like" goal, they still managed to lose to an incredible performance from Hull. The fact is, the 100% that Hull go from every single player on the pitch for the Tigers, should still not have been enough to defeat the quality and strength of Arsenal. They knew lady luck was shining on them yesterday as William Gallas headed brilliantly against the bar and the rebound merely hit Carlos Vela, a superb hat-trick hero on Tuesday, and went behind for a goal kick. Verdict for Arsenal: must try harder.

All this meant that Chelsea took top spot, while Liverpool and Aston Villa climbed to second and third respectively, and Man United gained three of the seven points they were behind on Arsenal back after a 2-0 win over Bolton. In all, seven out of the top nine won, scoring 2 goals. The two teams that didn't win were Arsenal, and Man City, who didn't play. Not a good day at the office for Arsene Wenger and his boys.

GUNNERS SHOOT TO THE TOP

Arsenal yesterday fired their way to the top of the league, and today had their place cemented for the week by the result at Stamford Bridge between Chelsea and Manchester United.

The Gunners, who started the match without the injured Samir Nasri and the benched duo Theo Walcott and Robin van Persie, fell behind early on with a powerful header from Kevin Davies. However fought their way back with two in two minutes first from Emmanuel Eboue, then Nicklas Bendtner and the game was rounded of with a dazzling run from substitute Theo Walcott, who played though Emmanuel Adebayor to set up young Brazilian midfielder Denilson for the third.

From the kick-off, it always looked to be Arsenal on the up as they got their passing game going quickly.

Bolton had an early chance after a scramble and Kevin Nolan sent a 30-yard snap shot goal-bound, seeing it tipped over by Manuel Almunia.

The early indication was that Bolton were in for a rough ride and they only ever looked threatening from set-pieces or long balls into the box. This was proved the case on 14 minutes as Kevin Davies climbed higher than the hapless Kolo Toure to head home from six-yards. Gael Clichy perhaps should have done better as the man on the post.

Toure very nearly amended for his poor defending when moments later he sent a fierce half-volley just wide of the post.

This, it would seem, was the most Bolton had to give as they spent the rest of the game on the racks. Straight from the restart Arsenal looked hungry, and not long after, Bendtner played a magnificent one-two with Adebayor who proceeded to slot the ball past Jussi Jaaskelainen, only to see it rebound back off the right hand post and back out.

Bendtner himself then saw a goal-bound shot hit Danny Shittu and from the resulting corner, Alex Song, unmarked, headed the ball against the left hand post.

Arsene Wenger looked frustrated, as did the Arsenal fans, who had decided the bad luck was his fault for leaving Walcott and van Persie on the bench.

It was all smiles a few minutes later after some more good play from Denilson, Bendtner slipped the ball through the gaping Bolton defence, to which Eboue latched onto to level the game with his first Premier League goal.

Just as Bolton had woken up after conceding the equaliser, they were picking the ball out of the net again as Bendtner turned from assistant to scorer after connecting with a delightfully weighted ball from Denilson.

Arsenal continued to press once again as Eboue and Denilson both went close. With half-time closing, Bolton took the ball up the other end and Nolan let loose a stinging volley that flew past Almunia's right hand post.

However, in stoppage time, the game took a sour note as Kevin Davies went in high and two-footed in Gael Clichy. The apparent touch on the ball may have saved Davies from a red-card as he escaped with just a yellow.
After the break, Arsenal again came out strongly as Alex Song came close with his effort from the edge of the box, but from then on it was Bolton who looked the more likely scorers.
Mustapha Riga, a second half substitute for Bolton almost made an instant impact, seeing his fine effort tipped round the post by Manuel Almunia.

With Bolton still going forward, as rare as it is, the Arsenal defence stayed fairly solid and they found no way through. As they pressed further, on came Theo Walcott to add pace to the counter-attack. Within ten minutes, he had picked the ball up on the halfway line and took off on a scintillating run, resulting in the game killing third for Arsenal through Denilson.

Walcott came close to making it four late on but had his shot saved from the finger-tips of Jaaskelainen, with Adebayor still screaming for the pass.

In all, it was a brilliant performance from Arsenal, but there are still some worries. Certain players like Denilson and Bendtner, as much good as they may have done yesterday, have a strong tendency to send stray passes out for throws or goal kicks, especially the former. The defensive partnership of William Gallas and Kolo Toure looks shaky at times, and just as a reminder, they haven't played anyone in the top 9 yet and still lost away to Fulham. They may be top, and they may be playing well and scoring goals, but don't get too carried away until they win a big game. You may be setting yourselves up for disappointment.