Nicklas Bendtner, Theo Walcott score late goals as Arsenal edges out Cardiff to stay top of EPL Nicklas Bendtner celebrates breaking the deadlock for Arsenal. ARSENAL has stayed top of the Barclays Premier League after scoring two late, late goals in a 2-0 win against Cardiff City. Nicklas Bendtner and Theo Walcott scored in the final two minutes at the Emirates to down a resilient Cardiff team which played in front of expected new manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and frustrated Arsenal for 88 minutes in the driving rain. "We have a special spirit in the side and you know we'll fight until the last minute in the game," Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said. Arsenal had to wait and wait before Bendtner gave the Gunners reasons to celebrate the start of a new year when he pounced from a rebound. The striker picked up an injury while scoring and was substituted before Walcott chipped the ball over goalkeeper David Marshall. It's an ankle sprain and it doesn't look too good in fairness. For Saturday he is definitely out already but it is too early to say how long he will be out for," Wenger said about Bendtner's injury. Wenger was asked whether his injury - and the absence of Oliver Giroud - would mean a dip into the transfer market but the Arsenal boss responded: "Let's not go too early on the transfer front. We will assess Giroud and let's hope we have good news on Bendtner as well. One option for Wenger will be to deploy Walcott in his favoured central striking role with the England man finding the net against Cardiff for the fifth time in as many games. The Arsenal boss admitted he was delighted with the performance of the former Southampton star. It showed as well when a player has been out for a long, long while and he comes back he can have a huge impact - it makes him very dangerous. We were rewarded for our intelligence because we didn't concede a goal and that got us the three points we deserved. There is a special spirit in the side and we will fight until the last minute of the game. We created chance after chance in the last 20. But you've got to give credit to Cardiff - it was a fantastic effort today and if they can manage to repeat that they will stay in the league.