Wenger has all he needs to send Bolton plummeting to bottom

When asked, Wenger spoke of happiness for his players but he would probably settle for six gift-wrapped points from his next two Premier League games, against Liverpool and Manchester United.

Despite their impressive start to the campaign — 13 wins and a draw in all competitions — the Arsenal boss knows his team have enjoyed a generous opening fixture sequence in the League.

They have played the bottom three plus struggling Fulham, newly-promoted Sunderland and Birmingham. But they have yet to face any of their rivals from the Big Four and six of the first nine games have been at home. All that, however, is about to change. Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday is their next test, swiftly followed by United and only two of the next seven League games are at the Emirates. 'We've made the first step by showing we have the strength to be up there,' said Wenger. 'It is another step we face with the big teams coming up. 'We know we dealt very well with them last year and are confident we can do it again. When there's consistency there's always quality.' Wenger will spend his birthday preparing for tomorrow's Champions League tie against Slavia Prague before settling down to watch Newcastle v Spurs with his partner Annie.

"It's exactly like any other working day," he said. "I never was a great celebrator of birthdays. I have plenty of socks. "I will just stay at home, have a quiet night, maybe one glass of wine and watch the game."

Wenger may allow himself to savour the sight of neighbours Spurs, tipped to overtake his side in the race for a Champions League place this season, toiling to escape the relegation zone.

His faith in his players is being repaid, although his claims that they have matured and can no longer be bullied was sternly tested on Saturday by Bolton, pioneers of the theory that Arsenal 'don't like it up 'em'.

The midfield aggression of Gavin McCann, Ivan Campo and El Hadji Diouf rattled Cesc Fabregas and stirred the Emirates crowd to gasp in collective horror at the northern upstarts who dared to tackle their heroes.

The visitors never looked like scoring but it was left to Kolo Toure to stride out of defence deep inside the second half and settle the jitters with a sweet free kick, which hugged the turf through a cluttered penalty area into the bottom corner.

"Toure is a symbol of the attitude and spirit of the team," said Wenger. "Always enthusiastic, humble and always giving 100 per cent." The goal released the tension from the final 20 minutes and Theo Walcott capitalised to produce a sizzling reminder of his pace and potential.

His dash down the right set up Tomas Rosicky for the second and Wenger hailed the 18-year-old's return to form after a difficult 16 months since the World Cup.

"He came down hard to the real world and found how little forgiveness you get when you don't perform," said Wenger. "He had a lot of time to digest that and get back to what's important in the game."

Bolton are the mirror image of Arsenal in many ways. Bottom of the table, without a manager and with disgruntled senior players blamed for ousting former boss Sammy Lee. Under caretaker boss Archie Knox there was still no place in the squad for Gary Speed but captain Kevin Nolan was reinstated and insisted he took no pleasure in Lee's sacking.

Nolan said: "Sammy Lee has been a major part of this club for the past three years but these decisions are made from upstairs and we just have to go along with it. It was always going to be difficult to step into Sam Allardyce's shoes. It's probably the toughest job outside the top four. Sammy felt he could do it but the board felt he no longer could."