Villa thriller will see Gunners fire

BOLTON v ARSENAL Kick-off 8pm

ARSENE WENGER hopes their FA Cup turnaround against Aston Villa will kickstart Arsenal’s crap season.

The Gunners have come under fire from fans for losing their last three Premier League games – twice throwing away leads.

They got in front against Fulham and Swansea only to lose both clashes, then fell short in a fightback against Manchester United.

But the way they battled back from 2-0 down against Villa in Sunday’s cup clash to win 3-2 restored Wenger’s confidence that they can fight for a top four spot.

He said: “Our target is to show the response we showed against Aston Villa now in the Premier League. We want to get up the league and fight for the top four.

“We have the quality and I feel if you look at results recently we were unfortunate because in every game we were in a position where we could win it.

“It’s not that you felt there was absolutely no quality there, it’s just that we missed what makes the difference.

“We know from previous games that we have that strength and that the desire in the team is great.”

Wenger heads to the Reebok tonight claiming Bolton are better than their lowly position suggests.

Influential

He added: “No matter who you play, whether it is first or last, you have a competitive game.”

Trotters boss Owen Coyle reckons midfielder Mark Davies reminds him of Paul Gascoigne. Davies has been a driving force in the Whites’ midfield and was influential in the victories over Swansea and Liverpool.

And Coyle believes Davies can cause the Gunners major problems.

He said: “The thing about Mark Davies is that he is so different. He drives forward and takes people on.

“The best example of that in an English midfielder was Paul Gascoigne.

“I loved watching Gazza driving forward with the ball and taking players on.

“Mark has got a long way to go to get to that level but he has quick feet and is scoring a goal now and then.”