Bolton 2 Arsenal 3:THE EASE with which Matt Taylor headed Bolton's first goal, and the general muddle in the build-up to and execution of his second, compounded the view that there remains an intrinsic insecurity in the centre of the Arsenal defence, one that Liverpool may be able to exploit this Wednesday.

Yet such was the psychological importance of this victory, against a team who have frequently dragged a sharp implement along the pristine surface of Arsene Wenger's multi-talented team, that the post-match celebrations went above and beyond the mere turning around of a 2-0 half-time deficit.

Had Bolton won, and thereby extended Arsenal's run to six matches without a win, which would have been the worst since Wenger became manager, there is no knowing what effect this would have had in European terms.

As it was, the players hugged and lifted each other off the ground as if they had just won the Champions League. Wenger is not generally an effusive man, but on this occasion there was no disguising either his delight or relief.

"Defeat plays on your mind, so this win was very important."

Just how important will be best judged after the matches against Liverpool.

Robin van Persie, who might have had three goals, was jubilant.

"After an hour we were 2-0 down, it was pouring with rain and we were playing Bolton away; it couldn't have been worse. It was unbelievable what happened, a little miracle, and little miracles can sometimes become big miracles. You never know, this result might yet be influential in the title race. And if we'd lost here, it would have been a terrible way to go into the Liverpool game. Now we can go in with confidence."

The sending off of Abou Diaby for a high challenge on Gretar Steinsson --"I knew the injury was not bad and not comparable with Eduardo," said Wenger - together with Taylor's two goals, had clouded the fact that for the majority of the first half Arsenal had thoroughly outplayed Bolton, who at half-time could scarcely have fathomed exactly why they were in the lead. Not that they would have been overly analytical, and for around 15 minutes of the second half Gary Megson's team played with the belief of men who had risen above their station, with Manuel Almunia making a decisive block from Gary Cahill's close-range header.

Then came the introduction of Emmanuel Adebayor and Theo Walcott and all was lost.

"Adebayor had looked a little jaded and I knew I could not rest him in the next three games against Liverpool and Manchester United," said Wenger.

His introduction came like the arrival of a fox in a henhouse. Whereas Andy O'Brien and Cahill had been previously stretched, but never to breaking point, they were suddenly being pulled hither and thither with a vengeance. Indeed the whole of the Bolton defence appeared to have Adebayor on their minds when William Gallas scored at the back post to signal the turn-around.

Thereafter Bolton imploded. It was as if the first half had been a mirage and their feet sank into deep desert sands. "We were in possession for their second and third goals," said Megson, who did a nice line in mixed metaphors involving circling wagons and tin hats.

He could be forgiven much in the circumstances, for this was a defeat of crippling proportions, compounded by the victories of Birmingham City and Sunderland. It was Bolton's sixth defeat in their last seven Premier League matches and the second time in the last four - the previous one being against Wigan - that they have failed to beat 10 men after a first-half sending-off.

Wenger felt that on this occasion his team's higher "technical level" had tired Bolton out. He may be right, though the second-half collapse surely owed as much to Bolton's fragile self-belief.

"Either the white flag goes up or our sleeves," said Megson. However, there is no escaping the fact, and no matter what changes he had hoped to make when he arrived, that the current team is a washed-out replica of the Sam Allardyce days and, as so often happens in such circumstances, luck is going against them too, as born out by Nicky Hunt's dislocated shoulder.