Already in the final of the League Cup and with a last 16 Champions League date with PSV Eindhoven on the horizon, Wenger's troops booked a 5th round home clash with Blackburn following a 3-1 extra-time victory over their Premiership rivals.

In an absorbing 4th round replay at the Reebok Stadium on Wednesday, Arsenal appeared to be cruising through courtesy of Emmanuel Adebayor's ninth goal of the campaign.

But Abdoulaye Meite unexpectedly sent the tie into extra-time when he stabbed home an equaliser at the end of normal time after Gilberto Silva had missed the chance of doubling Arsenal's lead from the penalty spot.

Substitute Freddie Ljungberg's second goal of the campaign made it 2-1 before Adebayor's late strike made it 3-1 after Julio Baptista had missed Arsenal's second spot-kick of the night.

Bolton finished the game with 10 men following the dismissal of Israeli defender Tal Ben Haim for two bookable offences deep in extra-time.

"It was an electric tie with some exceptional football played," said a delighted Wenger, whose side are now unbeaten in 11 games.

"To miss two penalties with two Brazilians was astonishing. But that was certainly one of our better performances of the season. We are doing really well at the moment and the spirit in the side is exceptional."

Wenger will recall Thierry Henry for Saturday's game at the Emirates Stadium. The French striker was given the night off at Bolton but will start against Blackburn after Wenger admitted Wednesday's 120 minute tie had taken its toll.

"We've got games on Saturday and then Tuesday so I have to look at the fatigue factor," said Wenger. "We did not want to play extra-time. There will be changes on Saturday - that's for sure." Bolton manager Sam Allardyce criticised referee Chris Foy for red-carding Ben Haim. "Far more and far worse went on than what Ben Haim did," said Allardyce. "He shouldn't have been sent off. I can't fault my players because I thought they were different class.

"But Freddie Ljungberg's has scored a terrific goal and that really hurt us."

Bolton had lost just one of the previous eight meetings between the two clubs yet Wenger continued his preference for second-choice goalkeeper Manuel Almunia in domestic cup competitions.

Having lost on their last three visits to the Reebok, that undefeated run ought to have been tested more severely yet the visitors rarely looked in danger once they eased into an early lead courtesy of Adebayor's ninth goal of the season.

His 13th minute effort required a deflection off Stelios Giannakopoulos to beat Jussi Jaaskelainen but Adebayor richly deserved his goal after a delightful move involving the impressive Denilson.

Had the visitors taken half the chances they created in the opening 45 minutes then Bolton would have found themselves on the end of a St Valentine's Day massacre.

Fresh from scoring his first Premiership goal at the weekend, Tomas Rosicky flashed a golden chance wide before a powerful run and even better cross by Gael Clichy was wasted as Baptista failed to get a firm header on the Frenchman's centre.

Baptista spurned an even better chance to double Arsenal's lead in the 27th minute, side-footing Rosicky's cross wide.

He went some way to redeeming himself seven minutes before the break when he forced Bolton's Finnish keeper to parry his 25-yard deflected free-kick over the bar before the hosts went painfully close to punishing Arsenal's sloppy finishing.

Giannakopoulos rattled the post in the 43rd minute after Andranik Teymourian's effort had cannoned off an Arsenal body into his path.

After the break, Arsenal wasted the perfect chance to kill the tie when Silva blazed a penalty high over the bar after Ben Haim had tripped Baptista.

That allowed Meite, finishing off Campo's knockdown, to extend the tie another 30 minutes before Ljungberg and Adebayor had the final say.