Fowler added his second shortly after the quarter hour after latching on to another decent feed, this time from Mark Viduka.Bolton, who went into the game with just one point from their previous four games and desperately in need of some confidence to halt their slide, tried to stabilise by pushing forward in numbers. Unfortunately for them, they found Leeds solid at the back, not least Nigel Martyn. Paul Warhurst tried one effort from 30 yards but Martyn reacted superbly to tip his shot over. He was called into action again shortly afterwards to deal with a shot from Ricardo Gardner and turned it wide.Despite these chances, Leeds were looking comfortable.

Viduka shot narrowly wide in the second half and Wilcox also went close by hitting the post. Fowler then let slip a chance of sealing his hat-trick from the spot after Bowyer was tripped in the box. He made amends two minutes from time, producing another smooth finish after a pass from Smith.Bolton were industrious throughout, but without being threatening. “Two pieces of rank bad defending caused our downfall,” was the appraisal of their manager, Sam Allardyce, afterwards. “We’ve got to stop shipping goals.”Bolton Wanderers (4-4-2): Jaaskelainen 6; Charlton 5, Whitlow 5, Diawara 3, Barness 4 (Southall, 85); Warhurst 4 (Johnson 5, 70), Gardner 6, Nolan 4, Frandsen 5; Farrelly 5 (Pedersen 4, 60), Holdsworth 5. Substitutes not used: Poole (gk), N’Gotty.Leeds United (4-4-2): Martyn 7; Kelly 5, Woodgate 6, Ferdinand 6, Matteo 5 (Harte 5, 45); Bowyer 6, Batty 6, Smith 7, Bakke (Wilcox 6, 6); Viduka 7, Fowler 8.

Arsenal, who have had far more attempts on goal than any other Premiership side this season, belatedly found their shooting boots yesterday and shot briefly to the top of the table before Newcastle United overhauled them later in the afternoon. To do so required considerable improvement on a poor first half in which Frank Lampard put a superior Chelsea in front. By the time Sylvain Wiltord – one of three substitutes successfully introduced by Ars? Wenger – scored what turned out to be the winning goal, the visitors were on the run for the first time in a number of weeks.In the past month Chelsea have beaten Liverpool, Manchester United, Leeds and Newcastle, all without conceding a goal. Victory over Arsenal as well and they would have leapt above their London rivals; but while the Blues never lose at Tottenham, they never seem to win up the road at Highbury. Claudio Ranieri is, however, building a more solid, more consistent team, tinkering less with the personnel and tactics, and he should be able to keep them in contention for one of the four Champions’ League places.He had accepted defeat graciously, acknowledging the strength of Arsenal’s recovery, until becoming vexed at the after-match press conference with a journalist who called Graeme Le Saux “a coward”. “You are a coward,” the Chelsea manager said and abruptly terminated the proceedings.An raw-boned encounter, sun and shade between the two Premiership teams with the highest number of yellow cards this season became overheated soon after Campbell’s equaliser, when Le Saux felled Patrick Vieira with one of the cruder challenges that often disfigure his game.

That led to so many players becoming involved in what Ranieri called “Boxing Day boxing”. As Wenger said, the referee, Graham Barber, could have sent off enough of them to end the match. “The referee was Pontius Pilate,” Ranieri said.What both managers agreed on was that the half-time interval was the point at which the tide turned Arsenal’s way. As Wenger admitted: “In the first half Chelsea were on top and we needed a reaction It was down to character more than technical ability. There’s so much hunger in this team and they gave everything.”For 50 minutes they did not look hungry enough and seemed to be sated with the deserved praise that followed Sunday’s exceptional victory with 10 men at Liverpool. Only Nwankwo Kanu’s early shot, blocked by the outstanding John Terry, had even ruffled Chelsea’s defence before Lampard scored in the 32nd minute.