Emmanuel Adebayor admits it was a relief to end his mini goal-drought at Reading on Monday.
The Arsenal striker had gone eight games without scoring before he calmly slotted home his sideÂ’s second at the Madejski Stadium. The 23-year-old was well aware of his shot-shy spell in recent weeks.
“I had not scored for a while and, yes, that was on my mind,” he said. “ As a striker it is important to score. That is what you are judged on.
“However the most important thing was to do a good job and win the game — and to be back at the top is great as well.
“We wanted to stay ahead of Manchester [United] and show them we are strong. We have done that.
“Of course it is a long title race and it is where you are at the end of the season that matters but we are very happy with how things are going.
“It is very important [to be top] going into the international break. It gives us a lot of confidence. We are playing really good football and there is a great feeling in the team. We are like a family and the spirit is excellent.
“We believe the squad is strong - you can see in the Carling Cup and against Slavia Prague. All the young players can come in and do a good job.
“That is important because there are a lot of games coming up and you need all your players.”