EPL: Reading vs Arsenal
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is fabregas playing?
if yes = win
if no = draw, no matter whatever thrash talking you have, wenger -
go go arsenal rape reading
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what if we win without fabregas? u people like to think tt cesc is arsenal's backbone. tsktskOriginally posted by gigabyte14:is fabregas playing?
if yes = win
if no = draw, no matter whatever thrash talking you have, wenger -
nb..Originally posted by corebooster:muz frequent more wor.
ornot our chairman may banish u back to BMT.
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will we win without HENRY?Originally posted by felirox:what if we win without fabregas? u people like to think tt cesc is arsenal's backbone. tsktsk
Will we win without Vieira?
Will we win without Sol Campbell?
thats the qns ppl are asking, and the answer they get is, SOCCER is a game among E L E V E N players, NOT O N E.
get it?
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*Reading v Arsenal*
Reading defender Michael Duberry is doubtful after damaging ribs in the recent defeat at Fulham.
But winger John Oster (ankle) and utility man Kalifa Cisse (knee) are both back in contention.
Arsenal's Kolo Toure (calf) and Tomas Rosicky (groin) have been passed fit, but Philippe Senderos will not be risked following a back injury.
Midfielders Cesc Fabregas and Alexander Hleb are likely to feature having been rested in midweek.
Reading (from): Hahnemann, Federici, Murty, Rosenior, Ingimarsson, Sonko, Duberry, Shorey, Doyle, Gunnarsson, Harper, Hunt, Convey, Lita, Kitson, Long, de la Cruz, Bikey, Fae, Oster, Cisse.
Arsenal (from): Almunia, Sagna, Song, Toure, Gallas, Clichy, Eboue, Flamini, Gilberto, Rosicky, Fabregas, Hleb, Diaby, Adebayor, Walcott, Lehmann, Diarra, Eduardo, Denilson, Hoyte, Traore, Bendtner. -
so.... any dudes awake?
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yeah im awake. looks liek another 4-5-1 formation again. tsk.
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is adebayor scared to shoot from long range??
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nice one flamster!
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1 nil to the Arsenal!!!
great attack from the Arsenal lads, swift and accurate. They really deserve it all!!
Reading for the whole game has been parking bus inside, what boring football from them.
it is actually a 4-4-2 formation, hleb is up front attacking.
Adebayor almost scored!! grrr... -
Reading 1-3 Arsenal
Arsenal again signalled their intent to battle Manchester United's `golden generation' all the way as Arsene Wenger's men went back to the top of the Premier League following a 3-1 victory at Reading.
Empics
Emmanuel Adebayor scores Arsenal's 1000th goal in the Premier League.
The Gunners extended a club record unbeaten run to 27 successive games as the Royals were simply outclassed, with Mathieu Flamini and Emmanuel Adebayor finishing off superb moves either side of half-time before Alexander Hleb's fine late individual goal wrapped up a comprehensive victory before England full-back Nicky Shorey grabbed a late consolation goal.
While Sir Alex Ferguson may believe his own crop of talent, spearheaded by Cristiano Ronaldo, have what it takes to be the best he has managed at Old Trafford, Wenger's emerging side once again proved they have the undoubted potential to deliver top honours - and signs are 2008 could turn out to be a vintage year.
• Adebayor keen to prove a point
As expected, the Gunners boss recalled his key men for the clash, having rested the likes of Cesc Fabregas and Hleb for the Champions League trip to Slavia Prague.
Despite the fast-freezing conditions - not to mention unusual kick-off time in international week - it was a bright start by the visitors at a packed Madejski Stadium.
Arsenal - who still have a match in hand on their rivals - came within inches of taking the lead after three minutes.
Fabregas won possession just inside the Reading half, and instantly split the home defence with a first-time through ball for Adebayor.
The Togo frontman stayed ahead of Ibrahima Sonko and drew the keeper out of goal.
However, despite rolling the ball coolly past Marcus Hahnemann from 16 yards, the African was unfortunate to see his shot come back of the base of the right-hand post.
After the early scare, Reading soon found their own rhythm.
However, despite making some progress down both flanks, the final delivery into the Arsenal penalty area was poor.
When the visitors went forwards, they often found nine men behind the ball at the other end.
Slowly, Arsenal continued to build the pressure, with Reading not able to get any sort of counter-attack going.
However, after 31 minutes, visiting keeper Manuel Almunia was finally called into action as he beat away a fierce drive from Brynjar Gunnarsson after the ball had dropped sweetly for the Reading man some 25 yards out.
After 37 minutes, Fabregas got a push in the back from Gunnarsson to earn a free-kick in a central position, just outside the penalty arc.
The dead ball was rolled to Kolo Toure, but the Ivory Coast defender drilled his shot horribly wide.
Arsenal then snatched the lead shortly before half-time.
The ball was won in midfield by Tomas Rosicky - fit again following a groin problem - and quickly fed Adebayor down the right, who in turn found Hleb on the overlap.
The Belarus winger pulled the ball back across the six-yard box, where Flamini was on hand to steer it into the net ahead of his marker Sonko.
Arsenal had to win by two goals to return to the top of the table following Manchester United's win over Blackburn on Sunday and they were again bright at the start of the second half.
Eboue almost picked out Adebayor with a chipped cross following a quick break down the right.
Flamini sent in a stinging low drive from 20 yards, which Hahnemann pushed behind even though it was probably going wide.
It was 2-0 soon enough.
Another quick interchange of passes saw Adebayor speed away down the left in the 52nd minute.
He fed Rosicky on the overlap before the ball was pushed into Fabregas just inside the box. The Spaniard in turn laid it back to Adebayor, who calmly placed the ball low into the far right corner to end his eight-match goal drought.
The big Togo frontman was celebrating again as he prodded home Rosicky's centre following a blistering counter-attack - only to be denied what looked a perfectly-executed goal by a rather dubious offside flag.
The match opened up during the final 20 minutes, with plenty of space both in midfield and down the flanks.
With 13 minutes left, Hleb latched onto a loose ball at the edge of the area.
The Belarus winger skipped one challenge and showed quick feet to keep Hahnemann at bay - before stepping back to smash a close-range effort past the man on the line and into the back of the net.
Fabregas was booked - his fifth of the season which will see him serve a one-match ban - for a foul on substitute Emerse Fae.
Shorey then hit the base of the post with a curling 20-yard free-kick.
Reading did get their consolation with three minutes to go when the England full-back drilled the ball home following uncharacteristic moment of chaos in the Arsenal six-yard box.
• Adebayor keen to prove a point
Emmanuel Adebayor was keen to deflect attention away from his own goalscoring exploits and insists he is more concerned with claiming maximum points following the Gunners' 3-1 win over Reading.
Mathieu Flamini put Arsene Wenger's side ahead in the first half before goals from Adebayor and Alexander Hleb put the game beyond Reading's reach.
Not even a late consolation from Royals defender Nicky Shorey could take the gloss off yet another classy performance from the north Londoners.
Adebayor told Setanta Sports: 'The most important thing is for team to win. I'm proud of my performance but the most important job is for the team and getting the three points.'
Man-of-the-match Cesc Fabregas said: 'They are a very good side. They try to play football.
'But when we play as a team it's very difficult for others, once again it was a great performance from us.
'If we keep going like this we have good chance (of winning the Premier League).
'The season is very long and we'll have to fight for our place at the top.'
Arsene Wenger felt his side were in control for long periods against Steve Coppell's side.
He said: 'I felt we were in control, but we needed to be patient.
'They didn't come at us and they wanted to catch us on break - it was us going at them, we were always in control.
'I didn't want my team to get frustrated, we knew we needed to be patient, maybe the first goal coming before half-time was the killer for Reading.'
Wenger was also quick to lavish praise on his young side following another imperious display.
He said: 'It's enjoyable to watch and work with them. They are hungry, they have a fantastic spirit and attitude.'
Royals boss Coppell admitted Arsenal's goal just before the break was the decisive moment of the game.
He said: 'The first goal before half-time was critical, they had a lot of possession but didn't create a great deal. There were signs they were getting frustrated.
'We talked about getting hurt on rebound from our corners and set-pieces and, lo and behold, they score from it.
'We found it hard to get back into game when their confidence started flowing.' -
Back to top again...
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reading raped. serve them right for talking rubbish
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yeah, glad dat we won again.
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gd tat gunners back on top...
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yea!!! we are top of the league again.. we are lucky not to concede another goal.
Brilliant stuff from the Arsenal lads, i felt that the second half was a total different kind of play they had. The confidence level was high from the goal from Flamini during the 1st half.
Adebayor should have scored 2 i supposed, the stupid linesman is SH!T!!! Angry Angry But anyway, it is good to see him score again.
Few hits and misses during the game, but there are alot for the Arsenal lads to take away from.
my Man of the Match: Adebayor, started scoring and supposed to have another. but, oh well...
did u all have any problem coming to SGForum at 6am - 7am? after i watched the game and wanted to do my post-match analysis, but cannot load the page at all!!! felirox, did u have the same problem too? -
ccb! regret buying tnp cos no match news regarding arsenal.
looking at some of the soccer articles it tends to make me wonder why is tnp so bias?
n big-mouth budgie tok c0ck again dat the title will be manure n ronaldog is the best player in the world. *yawnz~!* -
Think fabregas got the yellow card on purpose ?
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yeah, alot of pple r wondering dat too.Originally posted by kramnave:Think fabregas got the yellow card on purpose ?
maybe fabregas knew next match is against wigan, so getting suspense earlier is better than getting suspense against a stronger side. -
*Kitson - Arsenal are amazing*
Reading's Dave Kitson was amazed at the quality of the Arsenal players following Monday night's 3-1 loss at the Madejski Stadium.
The Gunners managed overcame a disciplined Reading side as goals from Mathieu Flamini, Emmanuel Adebayor and Alexander Hleb put the North Londoners back on top of the Premier League table.
After reflecting on the visitor's performance, Kitson has labelled the ability of the youngsters as 'magic', and admits it would be a shame if they did not secure trophies this season.
"It's absolutely phenomenal stuff," he said.
Unbelievable
"Trying to get near Fabregas, Hleb, Rosicky, it's a tough task. The thing that amazes you most is they are not just passing to each other - they are passing so that person can run on to the ball and then his mind is already made up with what he is going to do next. It's just magic, it is unbelievable.
"What I would say about Arsenal is they are not reliant on one, two, three even four people. They all kind of chip in. Even for a Tottenham fan like myself to say this is blasphemy but you hope that a team who play as well as that win something.
"With the last team (Arsene) Wenger put together they won two doubles, which is a frightening thing to do anyway.
"Look at the players he has let go. When that money came in from Barcelona for (Thierry) Henry, Wenger must have been looking at Adebayor and thinking it was Christmas.
Not fair
"He had a player waiting there for his chance and the unbelievable thing is that he probably won't even spend the money."
Kitson also reserved praise for the gifted Fabregas, insisting that he is one of the best players in the world.
"It's not fair that a kid that young can have so much talent," Kitson added.
"He's definitely among the top five players in the league, definitely one of the top players in the world."