Arsenal Preview

By Mark Heys
January 26 2007

Premiership rivals Bolton Wanderers and Arsenal will lock horns in the FA Cup for the third season in succession on Sunday afternoon.

A large following will travel with the Wanderers down to the Emirates Stadium as they look to nudge themselves nearer towards a trip to the newly built Wembley Stadium this coming May.

Bolton have already proved to be victorious over the Gunners this season with Arsenal old boy Nicolas Anelka scoring twice in a 3-1 win when these two teams met in the league back in November.

Anelka spent two successful years with the London side in the late 1990's and Trotters cheif Sam Allardyce will be hoping that his record signing will once again deliver the goods against his former employers.

The weight of expectation on Anelka will be far greater than usual as Bolton will be without the suspended El-Hadji Diouf following his sending off in the game against Middlesbrough last week.

Ricardo Vaz-Te and Stelios Giannakopoulos are both vying to replace Diouf in the Wanderers forward line, but neither have managed to take their previous opportunities when they have come along earlier in the season.

Quinton Fortune and Henrik Pedersen are both doubtful with respective ankle and calf injuries but Joey O'Brien is ruled out for the rest of the campaign with tendonitis in his knee.

Long serving Jamaican wing back Ricardo Gardner could push for a recall to the side after only being named as a substitute in the 5-1 hammering against Boro last time out.

Round three hero Andranik Teimourian is also hopeful that his recent performances when coming off the bench will earn him another opportunity to impress.

Arsenal will be without the services of World Cup winner Gilberto Silva following his harsh dismissal in the game against Blackburn Rovers a couple of weeks ago .

Midfielder Alexander Hleb (hamstring) and striker Robin Van Persie (broken foot) are the latest names to be added to a Gunners injury list which already includes Johann Djourou and William Gallas.

Freddie Ljungberg is rated as 50/50 for this tie following a recent hamstring injury and Emmanuel Eboue and Jeremie Aliadiere are also doubtful after picking up knocks in the midweek League Cup Semi final draw with local rivals Tottenham Hotspur.

FA CUP RECORD

02/02/1895 BOLTON WANDERERS 1 WOOLWICH ARSENAL 0

13/01/1912 BOLTON WANDERERS 1 WOOLWICH ARSENAL 0

08/01/1938 ARSENAL 3 BOLTON WANDERERS 1

18/02/1967 BOLTON WANDERERS 0 ARSENAL 0

22/02/1967 ARSENAL 3 BOLTON WANDERERS 0

16/02/1980 BOLTON WANDERERS 1 ARSENAL 1

19/02/1980 ARSENAL 3 BOLTON WANDERERS 0

08/01/1983 ARSENAL 2 BOLTON WANDERERS 1

31/01/1994 BOLTON WANDERERS 2 ARSENAL 2

09/02/1994 ARSENAL 1 BOLTON WANDERERS 3

12/03/2005 BOLTON WANDERERS 0 ARSENAL 1

28/01/2006 BOLTON WANDERERS 1 ARSENAL 0

FA CUP FORM GUIDE:

Played: 12

Won: 4

Drawn: 3

Lost: 5

CONNECTIONS

Nicolas Anelka, John Elvey, George Hunt, David Jack, Brian Kidd, Isaiah Rankin, Bruce Rioch

IT HAPPENED WHEN BOLTON PLAYED ARSENAL

Arsenal's Freddie Ljungberg missed from just a couple of yards out when these two sides met in the FA Cup in 2005. It mattered little though as the Swede had already scored the matchwinner as the game was in time added on.

Senegal striker El-Hadji Diouf was sent off for Bolton in the same game following a clash with Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann.

In January 1994 the Bolton striker Andy Walker put almost a year of injury hell behind him when striking the winning goal for the then First Division outfit in a 3-1 win at Highbury

Arsenal stalwart Martin Keown was dismissed for over protesting at a Tony Kelly free kick. Kelly had scored the original effort but upon a re-take missed the target