Arsenal pick up the points

Reading’s home form this season hasn’t been at all disastrous. Four close victories over Everton, Wigan Athletic, Derby County and Newcastle United, have been tempered with a narrow defeat against Chelsea and a bit of a spanking at the hands of West Ham United.

Reading’s recent form has been knit one, pearl one with each away defeat being followed by a home win to keep the wolves from the door. The visit of Arsenal would present Reading with their most testing match of the season so far. At the start of play, Arsenal found themselves three points behind the leaders Manchester United, but the north London side possess two games in hand. No pressure seemed to be on Reading going into this game given the recent form of the Gunners. However, a team with nothing to lose will have made Arsenal’s football professor Arsene Wenger dismiss any counting of chickens prior to this game.

Reading tried to adopt a policy of containment towards Arsenal, but at times in the first half, the game seemed to be balanced on a knife-edge. Arsenal’s neat intricate play threatened to rip Reading apart, but there wasn’t enough fire from the Gunners. Emanuel Adebayor had an early chance with a low shot that cannoned off the outside of the right hand post. Reading though seemed content to be patient, but so did Arsenal. Neither side was trying to push the other; a game of attrition looked on the cards.

Reading’s best chance in the first half came when Brynar Gunnarsson tried a speculative shot in the 31st minute forcing a decent save from Manual Almunia. Arsenal’s most concrete chance came when a free kick from Kolo Toure was cleared in the 41st minute. Reading would have pleased to get to the half time break with a clean sheet still in tact. However, they fell short by just two minutes. Mathieu Flamini latched onto a low cross from Alexander Hleb and bundled Arsenal into the lead.

The second half saw Arsenal further their lead. Adebayor placed the ball into the bottom corner of the Reading net in the 52nd minute and the game itself seemed over at that point. Whether damage limitation was now on the Reading agenda one can only speculate. Arsenal were not put off by Reading’s defensive approach and must have felt hard done by when Adebayor scored again four minutes after his first goal, only for it to be ruled offside. Television replays claim that the decision was a close one.

Arsenal did get a third with thirteen minutes remaining, when Hleb twisted around the Reading players in the penalty box and then freed himself to push the ball past Marcus Hahnemann. Reading did have two clear efforts in the last ten minutes, both coming from Nicky Shorey. A free kick from the left back crashed against the bottom of the left-hand post, but Shorey grabbed a consolation three minutes from the finish when he slotted home a Stephen Hunt pass. Consolation was all it was ever going to be at the stage with the points long gone into the Arsenal bag.

By Stuart Croucher.