Arsenal finally rediscovered some of their early-season form with a comfortable 2-0 win over relegation-threatened Reading at the Emirates Stadium.

Emmanuel Adebayor and Gilberto were on target for the Gunners as they closed the gap on second-placed Chelsea to four points with three games each remaining.

Having seen their title ambitions ended by Manchester United last weekend, Arsenal played with a freedom and fluidity not seen over recent weeks and such was the sheer number of chances created by the hosts, Reading were lucky to head home having conceded just the two goals.

The Royals are now facing getting sucked into the relegation zone by the end of this weekend, with Birmingham playing Aston Villa on Sunday.

Reading's performance against Fulham last weekend prompted Steve Coppell to promise he would make ten changes at the Emirates; he ended up making six, but it was nevertheless a bold statement.

His tactics changed too, as Coppell ordered his back line to mark Arsenal's forward players man-to-man. But neither change had the desired effect and Reading, clearly lacking confidence from the outset, found themselves two goals down by the break.

Arsenal were out of the blocks quickly and good chances fell to Cesc Fabregas, Adebayor, Robin Van Persie before Alex Song headed wide from a well-taken short corner in the 29th minute.

But the Arsenal faithful - considerably diminished in numbers from their usual home support - did not have to wait much longer for a goal, Adebayor taking Kolo Toure's pass on his chest to get past Ibrahima Sonko and fire into the bottom corner just a minute later.

The goal instilled more belief in the hosts, who began to play some super football. Their swagger was epitomised by a move started by Van Persie's lovely reverse pass to Toure in the 32nd minute; Fabregas was inches away from reaching the resulting cross but had the Spaniard managed to find the net, it would have been a sure contender for goal of the month.

Six minutes later and the inevitable hammer blow to Reading's hopes of getting back into the game was delivered by Gilberto, who netted his first goal of the season, a 25-yarder that took a big deflection off the head of Andre Bikey.

As the half drew to a close, further chances fell to Van Persie, Kolo Toure and Gilberto but Reading held out until the whistle.

Coppell opted not to make any changes at the break, so it was unsurprising that the second half started in much the same vein as the first had ended - with Arsenal well on top.

Theo Walcott - preferred to Emmanuel Eboue - looked lively on the right while Van Persie - looking more and more like his pre-injury self - did everything but score in his striking role.

Both players were unlucky not to get their names of the scoresheet, the woodwork denying the pair of them within the space of a minute - Van Persie from a wonderfully struck free-kick and Walcott from a left-footed curler in open play.

With Arsenal pouring forward and seemingly threatening to score on every attacking sortie, Reading could barely get out of their own half. The one time they did break through the Gunners' back line, Jens Lehmann was on hand to tip Bobby Convey's effort over the bar.

It was the perfect way to bounce back from the disappointment of last weekend's match at Old Trafford, even if Arsenal were fortunate not to end the day with a slight blemish on their copy book.

Alexander Hleb's raised arm on Graeme Murty just before the hour mark could easily have been construed as a red card offence and the midfielder was lucky referee Peter Walton did not see the incident.

Mike Hytner / Eurosport