Morning all.

It’s been a while since Arsenal faced Bolton. Whether the fixture was at home or away, it usually involved big Sam’s ‘they don’t like it up em’ thuggish tactics which Arsenal had to deal with. Invariably, Bolton would win the physical contest. I think it’s fair to say that Sam Allardyce and Arsene Wenger were never going to be the best friends. One was articulate who described football as being an art, the other, well, his managerial style was probably better suited to football of years gone by.

In his book, yes, he released one called “Big Sam” he declared:

I enjoyed beating Arsenal more than anyone when I was in charge at Bolton. We’d really got to them and Arsene Wenger hated us. Of course, Arsenal beat us sometimes, but we drew with them or beat them more often than expected and Wenger couldn’t handle it.

He takes it all very personally and has an air or arrogance. He’s not one for inviting you into his office for a drink after games. He’s a fantastic manager, I cannot deny that. But the more I could wind him up, the more I liked it.

Allardyce lost just one of six home top flight games against Wenger and was beaten just twice in six games away from home in the Premier League and FA Cup.

Thankfully, Bolton Wanderers are no longer a Premier League club and Big Sam isn’t a Premier League manager. In fact I don’t believe he has a job in the game at all.

Bolton currently sit 19th in League One but they are still a big and strong team by all accounts.

Arsenal’s record in this competition has been poor over the last 20 odd years. The photo below from TransferMarket shows at what stage we were knocked out and by who.

There are some shockers in there, the worst being 2010/11 when we lost in the final against Birmingham. The Arsenal players rocked up at Wembley in tracksuits and to this day, I still think they believed the trophy was theirs before the game even kicked off. Once we got to the final I’m sure every Arsenal fan wanted us to win this competition but from the season’s start, is hardly one I’d imagine every club manager sets out to win.

What can we expect from Bolton, I’ve no idea but as always, Arsenal’s Adrian Clarke has given us an insight within the match day preview.

Bolton have set up in a 3-4-2-1 this season, which is no surprise as right across Evatt’s four years at the helm he has almost exclusively deployed a three-man rearguard with wing-backs.

At League 1 level the Trotters are known for their fluid, possession-based football. They like to pass out from the goalkeeper, and you will often see their wide centre-backs pushing forward to join in with build-up play inside opposition territory.

With Evatt’s players all comfortable on the ball they are encouraged to keep their passing short, and to move the ball through the thirds. Last term they ranked second for the highest number of short passes in their division. Most of their longer passes are switches of play, rather than hitting it direct from back to front.

They will not expect to have as much of the ball this evening, but in the third tier Bolton’s approach is built around controlling matches, and sustaining periods of pressure inside the opposition half.

Mikel Arteta said in his pre match interview that there will be a few players who are not available for tonight’s match so it’s anyone’s guess who might line up against Bolton. I strongly suspect Jakub Kiwior, Gabriel Jesus, Raheem Sterling and Jorginho will start this one and probably a few of the younger players too. I think the position we’re all waiting to see who plays in is the goalkeeper as Neto is cup-tied and Raya is rumoured to be injured. Lucas Nygaard (18), Tommy Setford (18), Jack Porter (16) and 18 year old Alexei Rojas (18) are the options depending on availability.

Whatever the result, I just pray we don’t pick up any more injuries. At least we know there won’t be a replay.

Catch up in the comments.

 

 

 

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