Arsenal win in extra-time

Freddie Ljungberg and Emmanuel Adebayor scored in extra-time as Arsenal beat Bolton 3-1 in an FA Cup fourth round replay at the Reebok Stadium.

The Gunners took the lead in the first half when Emmanuel Adebayor's 25-yard shot took a deflection off Stelios Giannakopoulos and flew past Jussi Jaaskelainen.

Arsenal captain Gilberto smashed a penalty over the crossbar in the second half and Adebayor hit the inside of a post after intercepting the ball on the halfway line and dribbling round Jaaskelainen.

Bolton took advantage by grabbing an equaliser deep into injury-time as Abdoulaye Meite bundled the ball into the net at a corner.

Ljungberg effectively decided the match in the second half of extra-time with a left-foot shot across Jaaskelainen into the bottom right-hand corner of the net in front of the Gunners' travelling fans. That forced Bolton to push forward and defender Talal Ben Haim was sent off for a second booking after 116 minutes.

Julio Baptista put another penalty over the bar in the 120th minute but seconds later Adebayor tapped in his second as Baptista broke through on the counter-attack with every Bolton player in the Arsenal half.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said: "It was an exceptional game, played at an exceptional pace. There were patches of total football in there, undoubtedly one of our best performances of the season.

"But, having missed all those chances and then suffered the disappointment of Bolton coming back, I thought my young players showed amazing mental strength to win the game.

"I am so proud of them because they proved they had fighting spirit, as well as excellent composure on the ball."

Bolton manager Sam Allardyce was upset by Ben Haim's red card.

He said: "There were three bookings in the game and somehow, Tal has picked up two of them. I appreciate he might have pulled Baptista back on the second occasion but there were far worse things that went on in the game than the first one.

"You can't just look at isolated incidents, you have to see the whole picture and I am disappointed at the way the referee handled it."

Arsenal will play Blackburn at home in the fifth round on February 17.

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