17 December 2012
By Hob Nob Anyone?
It was a disappointing, yet strangely predictable, night at the Madejski Stadium as Reading suffered yet another high scoring stuffing at the hands of Arsenal. This time around the visitors raced into a 4-0 lead against a poor Reading side, scoring at will, and looked like they might accumulate a record defeat for Reading at the Madejski. Unexpectedly, the Royals pulled a goal back before getting a second to inject some life in the game - only to see Arsenal add a fifth and see out an ultimately easy victory.
Arsenal entirely dominated the first half - enjoying all the possession and all the chances. The Royals failed to get a single shot on target and barely touched the ball. The visitors seemed to be taking it very easy, yet cruised into a three goal lead against a Reading defence all too easy beaten. Arsenal found plenty of space in the Reading defence to cross and convert in the middle from close in. Federici pulled off a couple of decent saves to keep the score down. It was game over well before the half time break, when Reading were booed off the pitch.
Inside the hour it was 0-4 as Arsenal ripped Reading to pieces. Great passing across the pitch saw Reading's defence all over the place. The final cross from the left was finished from close range. It looked like it was just a case of how big the thrashing would be. Arsenal looked to be cruising to a big, big win.
With 66 minutes on the clock, Arsenal gifted Reading a life line losing the ball in defence. Tabb collected and then set up Le Fondre, who had just come off the bench. Le Fondre rounded the goalkeeper to make it 1-4. It was a surprise goal but introduced a bit of fight in Reading when they had looked down and out just minutes earlier. Kebe had been working hard when he got hold of the ball to go on a few runs with little success but got some reward on 71 minutes when Robson-Kanu set him up to make it 2-4. Reading looked better on the ball but needed Federici to make another save to stop them instantly falling another goal behind.
You always expect plenty of goals when Arsenal visit the Madejski Stadium and Reading's small hint of recovery was short lived when nine minutes later Walcott sealed the win for Arsenal, making it 2-5. Apart from a five minute period of hope Reading were poor, particually in defence. This was another nightmare for Brian McDermott who saw his side, already rock bottom of the Premier League, leak another five goals at home.
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