Arsenal finally ended their three-match losing streak at Bolton's Reebok Stadium but not without almost tossing away victory with their kamikaze finishing in this FA Cup fourth-round replay.

The Gunners looked to be cruising home after Emmanuel Adebayor's ninth goal of the season gave them an early lead.

But Arsene Wenger's men conspired to miss a series of gilt-edged opportunities, including a Gilberto penalty and an Adebayor effort that hit the post when he had an open goal to aim at, and they were eventually pegged back by Abdoulaye Meite's close-range strike in stoppage time for Wanderers.

Meite's effort set up an amazing period of extra-time in which Kevin Nolan struck a post for the hosts, Tal Ben Haim was sent off and Julio Baptista missed yet another spot-kick.

Eventually, Arsenal were able to book a fifth-round meeting with Blackburn on Saturday though as Freddie Ljungberg kept his nerve, finishing expertly after being sent through by Jeremie Aliadiere 13 minutes from time, before Adebayor netted his second with virtually the final kick.

Given Arsenal's appalling record on this ground and against Bolton in general, it appeared a brave move by Arsene Wenger to head north without Thierry Henry, Cesc Fabregas and Jens Lehmann.

The Gunners' march to the Carling Cup final has convinced Wenger about the merits of many of his youngsters though and the injection of experience in the form of Alexander Hleb, Gilberto, Kolo Toure and the excellent Tomas Rosicky ensured the visitors had the footballing nous to go with their attacking verve.

Such was the one-sided nature of the opening period, Bolton boss Sam Allardyce was probably grateful he had a worthwhile team talk to administer.

In fact, the Trotters could easily have gone into the interval on level terms.

Only the crossbar kept out Stelios Giannakopoulos' shot on the turn after the Greek forward had accidentally got in the way of Andranik's goalbound strike. Meite had a chance to net the rebound but Gilberto threw himself in the way of the shot to preserve Arsenal's advantage.

In truth, anything other than a lead for the north Londoners at that point would have been a travesty.

With Rosicky rampaging past stand-in right-back Ivan Campo at regular intervals, Bolton were on the back foot almost from the first whistle.

Only the profligacy of Baptista prevented Arsenal increasing their advantage. One glaring miss from Rosicky's far-post cross was particularly poor, although the on-loan Real Madrid man did bring an excellent save out of Jussi Jaaskelainen with a 25-yard free-kick.

Thankfully for Wenger, Adebayor did have his shooting boots on, rounding off a superb thrust forward from the visitors by collecting Rosicky's pass, then beating Jaaskelainen with a shot which took a deflection off Giannakopoulos and bounced in.

Bolton could have hardly played much worse and emerged for the second period with a renewed sense of vigour.

It should have brought them an equaliser too but, having been played in by Nicolas Anelka, Giannakopoulos inexplicably tried to set Ben Haim up with a tap-in rather than take a shot himself, a decision that allowed Manuel Almunia to dart in and smother.

Bolton's increasingly desperate search for a goal merely seemed to play into the hands of Arsenal's speed merchants.

Yet Wenger's men continued to suffer in front of goal, Abou Diaby failed to convert when one-on-one with Jaaskelainen.

If the Arsenal manager had taken the previous misses with his usual air of a man in control, he must have started to worry when his captain, Gilberto, blazed a penalty over just after the hour mark after Ben Haim had tripped Baptista.

That was bad, Adebayor's miss, when he failed to fire into an open goal after rounding Jaaskelainen, was even worse.

Increasingly, it appeared Arsenal would not be made to pay for their wasteful ways, only for Meite to steer Bolton back into the contest in stoppage time, bundling home from five yards after Campo had nodded El-Hadji Diouf's corner into his path.

Having survived in such dramatic fashion, Bolton nearly went in front when Nolan flicked Diouf's cross to the far post.

The midfielder raised his arms in celebration but, almost in slow motion, the ball bounced to safety off the inside of the post.

At that stage, it seemed certain Bolton would snatch a win from somewhere. But Ljungberg, as he has done so often in the past, kept his nerve when it mattered most, charging onto Aliadiere's through-ball before finding the neatest of finishes.

The drama was still not over as Ben Haim was sent off for his second bookable offence. Then Baptista missed a second Arsenal penalty after he had been hauled down by Anelka before, finally, the Gunners got another as Bolton piled everyone forward at the other end, Adebayor tapping home Baptista's pass.

Teams

Bolton Jaaskelainen, Campo, Meite, Ben Haim,Gardner (Pedersen 84), Giannakopoulos (Vaz Te 74),Teymourian (Tal 84), Speed, Nolan, Diouf, Anelka.

Subs Not Used: Walker, Fojut.

Sent Off: Ben Haim (117).

Booked: Ben Haim, Campo, Anelka.

Goals: Meite 90.

Arsenal Almunia, Diaby, Toure, Djourou (Hoyte 92), Clichy,Hleb (Ljungberg 78), Silva, Denilson, Rosicky (Aliadiere 90),Adebayor, Julio Baptista.

Subs Not Used: Poom, Walcott.

Booked: Ljungberg.

Goals: Adebayor 13, Ljungberg 108, Adebayor 120.

Att: 21,088

Ref: C Foy (Merseyside).