After drawing the last 3 games, albeit good draws against Liverpool, Manchester United, and most recently Slavia Prague, it was important to regain the winning habit against Reading. With Manchester United going top of the League the previous day, and with an international break coming up, it was also important to be back at the top of the League, so that the next 2 weeks of bored and lazy journalism are not focusing on an Arsenal decline. So, any sort of win would do, but ideally a 2-goal win to get us back to the top of the table. Reading are a team that are relatively inoffensive when you see them on Match of the Day, and a lot of Arsenal fans (myself included) have a bit of a soft spot for them. Last season, they were unlike many other teams in trying to play football against us, instead of just kicking us and defending with everybody behind the ball. When you get close to and into their ground though, some of the sympathy starts to evaporate - a lot of small town, chavvy fans, banging on about how they have (crap) English players, how they support their local team, and generally having a persecuted and annoying "small team" mentality.
This time, Reading started off with a very determined performance. Their players pressed and ran around after Arsenal's players, and they did well to restrict space and time on the ball for Arsenal. Adebayor hit the post in the first few minutes, but for the rest of the half, not all that much happened. Arsenal had lots of possession, but didn't really do very much with it. Eventually, a minute before half time, Flamini scored a goal that his excellent efforts in midfield all season have thoroughly deserved, and Arsenal never looked back from there. It was the perfect time to score, right before half time, and there was only one winner once that goal went in.
The second half, in hindsight, was a relative stroll for Arsenal. There were long periods where Reading just couldn't get the ball, and where their fans were very quiet as a result, resorting only to the occasional pathetic chant of "In-Ger-Lund". The amount of chasing of the ball that Reading's players had to do was inevitably tiring, and it made more goals increasingly likely as the game went on. Adebayor scored his first for a couple of months (again, well deserved given recent performances), and Hleb added the third, eventually taking a shot after what seemed like an absolute eternity dwelling on the ball. A deliberate booking for Fabregas (to ensure that he misses the Wigan home game through suspension, rather than something more testing), and an annoyingly needless Reading consolation goal conceded, and that was that - 3-1 to the Arsenal, top of the League again, and back to winning ways. Just what was needed.
Finally, a quick word about those chavvy Reading fans. I was sitting about 3 seats away from them, and they were very full of mouth during the first half, when it was goalless. They then totally shut up in the second half when Arsenal were winning - apart from their moronic "In-Ger-Lund" chanting. When Arsenal were playing them off the park, and our fans were singing "You need more foreigners", and "Have you ever seen England play like this?", a few stood up to go absolutely mad at the insult to their queen and country. They appealed for everything, all the time, and generally reminded me of Birmingham or Portsmouth fans - more interested in the shitty England team, than the top flight club that they pay hundreds of pounds a year to support - and with a huge persecution complex about anything to do with the "big clubs". All very sad indeed, so good to get the win and shut them up.
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