Reading vs Arsenal - Madejski Stadium, Reading - Sunday 22nd October 2006

After the lower division football yesterday, came a Premiership trip to Reading. They have had a good start to the season, and have been looking like a very useful team, especially at home. Chelsea and Man Utd have both struggled at the Madejski so far this season, so we were expecting a tough game. I used to live in Reading, so took the opoortunity to reacquaint myself with the pubs in the town centre, including the lovely Three Guineas at the station!

The Madejski is an impressive stadium for a "smaller" ground, and was packed to the rafters. I was amused to hear the Reading fans singing about following their team over land and sea, because I seem to recall crowds of 10 or 11,000 for their games when I lived there about 5 years ago. Wonder if so many people will be there if they get relegated again.

If you are expecting a difficult game, it certainly helps to be in the lead within a minute. So it was, and that goal after 50 seconds or so, helped to kill the excitement, and the game as a contest. So, the competitive part of the day lasted less than a minute.

The rest of the game was one of those vintage Arsenal performances, which has pundits and journalists drooling over the quality of the passing, movement, and the way that Arsenal can make decent sides look stupid. Fabregas in particular was amazing, again, and people are starting to notice this in a big way. He signed an 8-year deal last week, and by the end of it, he could have become the best player in the history of the world, and our best ever player - all before he hits 28 years old.

Towards the end of the game, with their team losing 4-0, those loyal Reading fans started to drift out of the ground in their droves. This picture, taken only about 30 seconds after the final whistle, shows nowhere near enough people in the ground to even get close to filling the seats. Over land and sea indeed!!