Fabregas artistry only glosses over Arsenal's failing

For the 60,000 who turn up at Arsenal's magnificent new home every fortnight, a fourthplace finish at Bolton' s expense is all they have to hang on to after another season of broken dreams.

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It is three years since the Invincibles swatted Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool to one side, but those giddy days are long gone.

What the faithful crave again — more than tension-filled victories over the likes of Bolton — is a proper Premiership title tilt.

There are special talents in the team such as Cesc Fabregas, Tomas Rosicky and Gael Clichy but the current crop do not have the legs to last the distance.

They are also too flaky around the edges. While Manchester United can call on experienced professionals such as Wes Brown and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to come off the bench, Arsenal are relying on the likes of Abou Diaby and Julio Baptista.

It is a credit to Arsene Wenger that he still steadfastly believes Arsenal can challenge the top two next season, but slugging it out again with Liverpool for third place is an uncomfortable reality.

The Arsenal boss said: "It's down to us where we finish next season. Our performances between now and the end of the season will show what we can do.

"This year, we have beaten everybody at the top, but we have dropped points against the weaker teams and that's down to maturity."

Wenger will improve his squad in the summer, notably with the brilliant Marseille winger Franck Ribery. But Arsenal are also crying out for a goalscorer to tuck away any of the 29 chances they created in the 1-0 defeat by West Ham last weekend or one of the 17 they conjured during this win.

There is magic in Arsenal's team and Fabregas, despite his pointless ruck with Bolton midfielder Gary Speed, excelled against more muscular opponents.

The Spaniard capped a near-perfect performance with a wonderful finish 44 seconds after half-time.

Fabregas has the talent to become the finest midfielder in the world, but whether he ever hits such heights will depend on his temperament.

Kevin Nolan, who was unusually subdued in the heart of Bolton's midfield, said: "His vision and range of passing is fantastic, but the one thing he needs to sort out is his temper. He loses it too much and he does it at the wrong time.

"When he's getting beaten, he starts to lose his rag, but that will come because he is only a young lad and he will be a top player for many years. He's emotional, but he will learn and when he's calmed down he will be sorry."

Fabregas was not about to apologise for scoring Arsenal's winner, but his strike was his first League goal in 11 months.

If Arsenal are to mount a real challenge for the title, Fabregas will need to improve on that record.

Freddie Ljungberg and Robert Pires scored 30 goals between them in 2003-04.

Rosicky, who bravely scored Arsenal's equaliser, and Alexander Hleb have only contributed four between them.

That is not good enough, but Arsenal still had too much quality to be seriously threatened by Sam Allardyce's side.

It took Nicolas Anelka's welltaken goal to remind Arsenal of the consequences of successive home defeats, but Allardyce was left lamenting the decisions of referee Rob Styles.

Ivan Campo deserved to be dismissed for a second booking in the 83rd minute, but there was no explanation for his failure to award a penalty when Emmanuel Eboue handled.

The Bolton manager, whose hopes of finishing fourth were virtually ended by this defeat, said: "We should be able to criticise referees if they get a major decision wrong because I get enough stick and so do my players.

"Referees are human and the subconscious plays a part. We have been pointing this out to the FA for six years. It's not all Rob Styles's fault, but he missed a crucial decision. If we'd got a point, we could have still gone for fourth place."

Instead, Arsenal supporters can ring August 14 in their diaries and prepare for a Champions League qualifier in a European football outpost.