Spirited Gunners fight back to stay in title race

Bolton 2 Arsenal 3

Ten-man Arsenal re-ignited their faint Premier League title hopes by coming back from 2-0 down to win 3-2 at Bolton.

Two goals from Matthew Taylor either side of Abou Diaby’s sending-off for a reckless challenge on Gretar Steinsson appeared to have given struggling Wanderers a much-needed boost.

However, in the second half William Gallas poked home a corner before Robin van Persie equalised from the penalty spot after Gary Cahill had brought down Alexander Hleb and Jlloyd Samuel’s own goal with seconds remaining capped a remarkable turnaround.

The result was just what Arsenal needed after going five league matches without a win, a run which appeared to have derailed their bid to catch leaders Manchester United.

It also ended Arsenal’s remarkable run of not having won at the Reebok in the league since April 2002.

Wenger almost paid the price for leaving 23-goal leading scorer Emmanuel Adebayor – probably with Wednesday’s Champions League quarter-final against Liverpool in mind – on the bench for an hour.

Arsenal certainly missed him as they dominated the early stages without threatening.

They should have been ahead in the ninth minute when Hleb threaded a through-ball to Van Persie but with only the goalkeeper to beat he drove straight at Ali Al Habsi.

Nicklas Bendtner then had a shot was charged down by Cahill, before the Danish striker was very close to latching on to Fabregas’ quickly-taken free-kick but his slide at the far post came too late.

In the 14th minute Arsenal were made to pay for not making more of their possession.

From a throw-in El-Hadji Diouf played in Steinsson down the right and the full-back curled in a superb cross which Taylor headed powerfully past Manuel Almunia from six yards.

It was Bolton’s first goal in seven hours and 19 minutes of football in all competitions.

Van Persie tried to twist his way towards goal but Steinsson blocked him off at the expense of a corner and when Arsenal earned a second immediately afterwards Toure thought he had come close to scoring.

His drilled effort from outside the penalty area took a deflection off Bendtner to wrong-foot Al Habsi but as the goalkeeper watched the ball roll agonisingly wide of the post the assistant referee’s flag had already gone up for offside against Gallas.