Bolton boss Ian Evatt is amazed by the goalscoring potential of his side after they strolled to a 5-1 win against Harrogate in the FA Cup second round.
After resting his first-choice front two of Dion Charles and Victor Adeboyejo, he saw replacement Jon Dadi Bodvarsson crash a first-half hat-trick and Dan Nlundulu add another two shortly after half-time.
That means Bolton have now scored 104 goals in 2023, levelling a club record that has stood since unchallenged since 1934.
“The two centre-forwards were excellent, they were the biggest plus of the day by miles,” he said.
“We made changes today but I have massive faith in the two of them, they are excellent players, and I thought at times today they were completely unplayable.
“Jon will probably get the headlines for the hat-trick but Dan was excellent, his work outside the penalty box was really pleasing too.
“We have got a very good group of strikers at this club and there are goals in every single one of them.”
Aside from Bodvarsson’s and Nlundulu’s goalscoring exploits, Evatt was nonplussed about his side’s performance overall.
Bolton had kept seven straight clean sheets in all competitions leading into the game, equalling a club record from 1900, but George Thomson’s strike before the break sent the counter back to zero.
“I’m not trying to nitpick,” he said. “But I thought overall it was OK. Nothing spectacular.
“I am happy with the result, happy we are through, but I thought we were a bit loose.
“We were sloppy at times and can be better. I was really disappointed with that goal because we wanted the record as our own, it was a really silly one to give away and I think it was coming at the time because we’d made some poor errors at times.”
League Two club Harrogate provided pockets of resistance but manager Simon Weaver was left feeling shortchanged by the performance.
“You have got to raise your game against top-end League One opposition,” he said. “Bolton are very strong, they have a great squad and I am sure they will be a Championship club next season. But I expected a lot more from our team. I thought we fell short and didn’t really lay a glove on them this afternoon.
“We weren’t without our opportunities. Other than the goal, we had plenty of opportunities to seize the moment and take advantage of, but we didn’t.
“There was maybe a lack of belief in the final third. But that takes a bit more poise, a bit more confidence and people grabbing the moment like Tommo did for his fine finish. Defensively, it was a shambles at times. Conceding five goals by 55 minutes it a source of great embarrassment.”
Aston Villa 2-2 Crystal Palace: Sarr's first league goal for Eagles helps extend hosts' winless run
Ross Barkley’s late headed equaliser helped Aston Villa earn a 2-2 draw against Crystal Palace at Villa Park, although their winless run now stands at four matches in the league.
Unai Emery’s side could not shake their poor form as they were forced to come from behind twice at home to an injury-hit Palace team.
Ismaila Sarr got the visitors off to a flying start with his first-ever league goal for the club on four minutes as he slotted home on the break, though Ollie Watkins brought the hosts level in the 36th minute.
Villa could have gone ahead as Youri Tielemans saw a penalty saved just before half-time, but it was Palace who took advantage through Justin Devenny. The 21-year-old put visitors back in front in first-half stoppage time.
The hosts left it late to snatch an equaliser as Barkley headed home from Tieleman's corner off the left with 13 minutes to go.
Aston Villa go seventh in the table, while Crystal Palace drop below Wolves and into the relegation zone in 18th.
Data Debrief: Sarr and Watkins lead from the front
Watkins has been directly involved in 50 goals in 80 Premier League appearances at Villa Park (35 goals, 15 assists), now the outright most of any Villa player in the competition (Gabriel Agbonlahor, 49).
At the other end, Sarr scored and assisted in a Premier League game for the second time in his career, previously doing so versus Liverpool in February 2020.
Both players led their respective sides for expected goals (xG), with Sarr accruing a total of 0.69 from the right wing, while Watkins totalled more than penalty-taker Tielemans with 1.29 xG.
Arsenal 3-0 Nottingham Forest: Saka shines on Arteta's landmark outing
Bukayo Saka’s inspired performance helped Arsenal return to winning ways in Mikel Arteta’s 250th game in charge as they swept aside Nottingham Forest 3-0 on Saturday.
Saka scored one and set up another to cap a fine individual display in what was an excellent team performance from the Gunners.
Having danced into the box to drill home a crisp finish for the opener, Saka turned provider for Thomas Partey early in the second half, with the midfielder curling the ball into the left-hand corner.
Ethan Nwaneri combined with fellow substitute Raheem Sterling to slide home his first Premier League goal and add further gloss late on.
Arsenal’s victory saw them go level with Chelsea on 22 points, but they remain in fourth place, while Forest drop down to sixth after back-to-back league defeats.
Data Debrief: Gunners reach landmark triumph
Arsenal have often relied on Saka to produce moments of magic since his integration into the first-team, and it seemed fitting that his display would help the Gunners to their 2,000th victory in English top-flight history.
Only Liverpool's Mohamed Salah (14) has been involved in more Premier League goals this season than Saka (12 – four goals, eight assists), with his impressive performance backed up by the match statistics.
The England international registered more shots (six) and more touches in the opposition box (13) than any of his team-mates, while his four chances created was a total only bettered by Martin Odegaard (six).
But there was also a special moment for substitute Nwaneri. At 17 years and 247 days, he is now Arsenal's second-youngest Premier League goalscorer, behind only Cesc Fabregas against Blackburn Rovers in August 2004 (17y 113d).
Verona 0-5 Inter: Five-star visitors go top of Serie A
Inter hammered lowly Verona 5-0 away from home on Saturday to move top of the Serie A table, with all five goals coming in the first half.
The hosts could easily have taken the lead through Casper Tengstedt just six minutes in as he struck the post after causing chaos in the box, but Inter sparked to life after that.
Joaquin Correa rattled the crossbar moments later, and then opened the scoring after 17 minutes, finishing off a lovely team move by chipping Lorenzo Montipo.
Having set up the opener, Marcus Thuram added a quick-fire double; twice in three minutes, he took the goalkeeper out of the game with clever play before picking out the back of the net.
Substitute Stefan de Vrij fired their fourth past Montipo before Yann Bisseck managed to pick out the top corner despite initially tripping over the ball in the 41st minute.
The second half was a subdued affair, though Correa almost scored another, but instead smacked the crossbar for a second time.
Inter leapfrogged Napoli, who do not play until Sunday, as they moved into first with 28 points. Verona are 14th on 12 points.
Data Debrief: Full-throttle first half
It was a pretty much perfect first half from Simone Inzaghi's side, and it gave the manager a chance to rest some key players with a Champions League tie ahead of them in midweek.
Inter scored five goals in the first half of an away league game for only the second time in their history in Serie A - after the 5-1 score against Sampdoria in the first 45 minutes of play back in March 1964.
The visitors scored with all five of their shots on target in the first period and outperformed their 2.79 expected goals (xG) by some margin.
Correa has scored in a Serie A game 756 days after his last goal in the top-flight, on 29th October 2022, against Sampdoria, at Meazza. Meanwhile, all three of his away goals have come against Verona at Bentegodi.
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