An emotional Tamir Cohen scored a late winner for the Trotters, which he subsequently devoted to his late father Avi, after Robin van Persie had cancelled out Daniel Sturridge's 38th-minute opener. Kevin Davies missed from the penalty spot in the first half but Bolton returned to winning ways after a 5-0 thrashing in the FA Cup semi-final with Stoke.
Coyle said: "We were obviously intent on trying to win the game but the biggest thing for me was we gave a big performance.
"We showed strength of character, resilience, everything you could ask of a group after having such a horrible day.
"We could have gone 2-0 in front and then Arsenal scored within a minute and, given last week, it would have been easy to feel sorry for ourselves.
"But we didn't do that, we got blocks in, and it was fitting that Tamir got the winner on such a wonderful day."
Source: PA
Source: PA