Arsenal finally put a win in the home games column matching the scoreline of their last home win against Blackburn. In the end, it looked like a routine victory that Arsenal were getting in the first half of the season but given how the past few weeks have been, it was a much needed win.

The game started off slowly but somewhere around the 25th minute mark or so, Arsenal’s play noticeably moved up a few gears. Theo raced on with purpose and it appeared that a goal was in the offering. The now familiar corner routine between Cesc and Van Persie provided a genuine chance in the 29th minute. After Cesc stopped Van Persie’s corner pass, Van Persie provided an intelligent piece of improvisation as he carried the ball past the oncoming Reading player and passed back to Cesc who in turn floated a teasing ball into the penalty box only for Song to fail to connect properly. But a goal did come a minute or so later when Adebayor beautifully controlled a long through ball and coolly picked his spot to make it 1-0.

A confident Arsenal marched on and in the 38th minute the most unlikely Arsenal player got his name on the score-sheet, albeit with the aid of Bikey deflection. Gilberto’s shot from the edge of the penalty box took a visible deflection and went in just past the outstretched reaches of Hahnemann to make it 2-0. A few minutes later it was almost three as a beautiful flowing exchange of passes between Van Persie and Ade led to a Van Persie shot being saved by Hahnemann. And then almost a minute later, Toure found himself in the penalty box and his shot required a smart save from Hahnemann whose job was made harder as Van Persie was still lying on the ground in front of the Reading keeper. Arsenal finished the half on a strong note on as a mazy Hleb dribble in the penalty box led to the chance ending with another Gilberto shot from the edge of the box. The time however his tame shot was gathered easily by Hahnemann, who like the rest of the Reading players must have been glad to hear the half-time whistle.

Hahnemann was once again involved early on in the second half when he raced well out of his goal and Theo could have lobbed the ball over him but the chance was not taken. A flashpoint occurred in the 59th minute when the Reading captain Murty went down clutching his face. Camera replays showed that Hleb tussled with Murty and might have reached out but it is unclear whether he actually hit Murty in the face or just the chest. Toure went off with a groin injury around the same time that Murty was down and was replaced by Eboue. As Reading offered nothing in terms of offensive play, a nasty development in the second half involved Van Persie getting targeted for kicks on more than one occasion with Bikey and Cisse doing their parts to kick the Dutchman down.

Another Theo run was ended with him being brought down on the edge of the box around the 70th minute mark. From the resulting free kick, Van Persie once again provided a reminder of his immense talent as his beautiful free-kick hit the cross bar and bounced on the wrong side of the goal line. A few minutes later, Theo curled his shot onto almost the same exact spot on the Reading crossbar as Van Persie’s shot. Bendtner and Denilson made their appearances replacing Ade and Hleb around the 75th minute mark. 2 minutes later, Lehmann was called into action for the first time in the game and he duly palmed the danger away. Theo and Arsenal still kept plugging away and around the 82nd mark Arsenal almost made it 3 when Eboue laid the ball off to Cesc who controlled curled shot went past the Reading keeper but was cleared off the line. An incorrect offside call prevented Arsenal from netting a third in the 85th minute mark. Still it was great to see Arsenal going forward in search of a third goal, which never arrived. In the end, a deserved win and 3 points.

Some final words: Theo played quite well throughout the day and it is great to see him improving with each game. His balance was quite good as he had to stop, turn and dash past players on a few occasions. Van Persie is still one of the best players in this Arsenal squad and he displayed enough examples today of his skills. Also, Van Persie’s temperament has improved quite a bit compared to a few years ago and he now calmly appears to handle kicks aimed at him. How he can stay fit is another matter altogether.

Line-ups:
Arsenal: Lehmann, Gallas, Toure, Clichy, Gilberto, Hleb, Cesc, Song, Walcott, Adebayor, Van Persie
Reading: Hahnemann, Murty, Ingimarsson, Rosenior, Sonko, Bikey, Harper, Convey, Cisse , Kebe, Kitson