FOOTBALL Live

Saturday April 19, 2008 Finished Emirates Stadium

Logo 2 - Reading 0

Arsenal

  • Adebayor 30’
  • Gilberto Silva 38’

Reading

  1. Arsenal deepen Reading woe

    Arsenal deepen Reading woe

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

  • Live Commentary

    Time:90'
    • Arsenal
    • Reading
    • 90'+3 There it is! All over at the Emirates and it's been a fairly comfortable afternoon for Arsenal... bad news for Reading though who are back in the relegation mix...
    • 90' Three minutes of added time to be played...
    • 87' Bikey fires high, wide and handsome... this one's over...
    • 84' Fabregas wins a free kick right on the edge of the Reading box... and he'll fancy his own chances from this range.
    • 83' Fabregas! Must be! No! Duberry gets back to block his effort on the line! That should have been a third!
    • 80' Walcott goes off on another jinking run... he cuts inside but his shot is well blocked in the end!
    • 79' Reading are forced into making another change... off goes the injured Kebe and on comes Marek Matejovsky.
    • 78' Oooh! Duberry gets on the end of the corner at the near post! But it's deflected wide for another corner kick... Bendtner horribly at fault with some poor marking there...
    • 77' Ooooh! Convey nearly gets one back for Reading! He skips past Clichy and Song before firing a shot off! Lehmann is forced into tipping his effort over the bar for a corner!
    • 74' Substitutions galore now... Harper and Sonko off, Fae and Duberry on for Reading... and Bendtner and Denilson on for Arsenal, Adebayor and Hleb off...
    • 73' Walcott off the bar! He curls one with his left foot... Hahnemann's beaten, but the bar comes to Reading's aid!
    • 72' Ooooh! What a strike from Van Persie! His effort strikes the bar, then the post and back out again! He thinks it's over the line, but it's not and the referee waves play on!
    • 71' What a turn of pace from Walcott! And the only way Sonko can deal with it is by tripping him up... yellow for the Reading defender...
    • 68' Walcott clips the ball into the centre... Fabregas! Oooh! He gets under it far too much and his header loops over Hahnamann's bar!
    • 65' Oooh! Hleb fires a blockbuster from 25 yards right into Cisse's crown jewells! Ouch! That looks terribly painful... the flag was up anyway, so he didn't even need to get in the way...
    • 63' RVP is really turning it on today... he rolls the ball past the defender from a short corner for a second time today! Lovely stuff!
    • 62' Small chance for Reading as Convey threatens to break open the Arsenal defence... decent defending from Gallas though and Reading remain without a goal...
    • 60' Arsenal make their first change of the day... off goes Toure and on come Eboue...
    • 59' Oh! Hleb looks like he slaps Murty in the face! Murty goes down, and when he gets up he's not a happy camper! He could have gone for that....
    • 58' Bikey goes into the book for a dangerous tackle from behind on RVP...
    • 57' Reading can break here with Convey... but the move doesn't have the steam to keep going and it soon breaks down.
    • 54' Reading all over the show at the back here! RVP is the instigator... it's like pin ball in the box! But Arsenal can't capitalise and Reading live to fight another day!
    • 51' RVP gets in behind the Reading defence... but Ingimarsson gets back well to make sure his shot does not trouble Hahnemann!
    • 50' Walcott's through here... Hahnemann is way off his line! What's he doing? Walcott tries to loop the ball over the keeper, but he can't get much purchase on the ball and Reading survive!
    • 48' Poor from Van Persie this time... over everyone and behind for a goal kick...
    • 47' Cisse is penalised for a trip on Fabregas... free kick to Arsenal early on in the second half...
    • 46' Back underay at the Emirates! No changes to tell you about in terms of personnel...
    • 45'+2 The referee's whistle sounds and that must be music to Reading's ears... 2-0 the hosts lead at half time!
    • 45'+1 Gilberto again! Oooh! Hahnemann again brought into action!
    • 45' Hahnemann flaps at it slightly, but he manages to get it away!
    • 45' Another near post corner causes more problems in the Reading defence... Ingimarsson heads behind for another corner - their 10th of the game!
    • 44' A neat back heel from Fabregas gives Toure a shooting opportunity! Another decent stop from Hahnemann! Arsenal rampant!
    • 42' RVP should make it three here! Adebayor cuts it back from the byline... it evades Walcott, but not the Dutchman! But Hahnemann gets down well to make the save!
    • 40' Steve Coppell's tactics of marking man-to-man hasn't worked at all... something needs to be changed for the second half....
    • 39' Already it's looking all over for Reading... their heads are down and surely there's no way back now.
    • 38' GOAL! TWO NIL! It's Gilberto who nets from 25 yards, thanks to a big deflection off the head of Bikey! The Brazilian slips as he shoots, but it's still too much for Hahnemann and Arsenal lead by two goals to nil!
    • 34' Here goes Hleb again... he plays it into Fabregas, but the Spaniard can't work any magic this time...
    • 33' At the other end, Harper gets on the end of a deep ball into the box... but his header is always going wide... that's Reading's first attempt on goal so far today.
    • 32' Here come Arsenal again! Toure breaks down the right hand side after a lovely reverse pass from RVP... he cuts it back, but Fabregas can't quite get to it! Liquid football from the Gunners!
    • 30' GOAL! Adebayor breaks the deadlock! It's a super finish from the Togo striker, taking Toure's through ball past Sonko with some neat control before slotting into the bottom corner! 1-0 Arsenal, and you have to say, they deserve that...
    • 30' Oooh! Absolutely brilliant play from Arsenal! Fabregas and Van Persie work the short corner superbly... but Song's header is poor and it goes wide of the post!
    • 29' Fabregas over the free kick... he leaves it for Van Persie! Oooh! Inches wide of the post!
    • 28' Hleb heads off on another run, but he's tripped by Kitson, who goes into the book.
    • 27' Walcott plays a brilliant one-two to get free into the box... he cuts the ball back! Oh, but that's good defending from Sonko, who hacks clear!
    • 26' And Arsenal are now just beginning to assert themsleves on the game...
    • 25' Despite an encouraging start, Reading are clearly lacking confidence today...
    • 24' Walcott at the near post! Oooh! Hahnemann punches behind for another corner! The second is again delivered to the near post... Murty gets there to head clear!
    • 23' Nothing comes of it this time, but minutes later they have another one... up comes Gallas...
    • 22' Fabregas starts off another Arsenal attaack.. and Hleb wins a corner off Sonko!
    • 21' Cisse tries to get on another ball into the box now... it skids off his head though and runs all the way through... better from Reading now...
    • 20' Lovely whipped ball into the box from Kitson! Kebe is there or thereabouts, but he can't get anything on it and the ball flashes across the face of goal!
    • 19' Ingimarsson makes a total hash of a clearance... the ball skews off the outside of his boot and up over Hahnemann! The keeper spins on a sixpence and hares back towards his goal to retrieve the ball... close shave for the visitors!
    • 17' Either those rocket and crayfish salads are too good to leave, or all the empty seats around the Emirates have not been taken at all today...
    • 16' Kitson wins a flick on into the box... but there's no one there to get on the end of it and the attack breaks down.
    • 14' Here goes Clichy on another marrauding run down the left... Kebe does really well to get back and win the ball back for Reading though...
    • 13' Free kick now to Reading at the other end... Rosenior delivers a peach of a ball into the mixer... but Lehmann is there to catch under pressure!
    • 12' Reading will need to learn from that early slip-up if they are to keep Arsenal at bay today...
    • 11' Adebayor with a free header! But it's a terrible effort and ball bounces wide of the mark! Awful, awful marking from Reading, with Cisse apparently the main culprit.
    • 10' Good little spell of pressure from Arsenal now... Walcott wins another corner!
    • 9' What a pass from Hleb to put Fabregas through on goal! But Cisse does well to get back and put enough pressure on him and in the end Fabregas's shot is weak and straight into the arms of Hahnemann!
    • 8' Hlbe touches it inside to RVP instead of delivering it into the box... wahey! The Dutchman brings a chorus of jeers from the travelling support as his effort balloons well into the stands!
    • 7' Lovely ball from Hleb to set off Clichy down the Arsenal left... Kebe legs it back to upend the Frenchman... free kick to the Gunners and a decent chance to put a good ball in.
    • 6' Reading have started well here... they're up for the fight at least...
    • 5' Kitson already making a nuisance of himself up front for Reading...
    • 4' Walcott shows his skills on the right hand side as he dances past Rosenior... he'll be hoping to impress today...
    • 3' Corner now to Arsenal... Hahnemann claims without any problems though...
    • 3' Adebayor boots the ball away at the near post... there's still hundreds of empty seats behind Lehmann's goal... the Arsenal faithful must be just paying their bills in the local gastrop pub.
    • 2' That's a poor ball from Clichy... and Reading can launch the first attack of the day! Kitson ends up winning a corner off Gallas!
    • 1' The teams are out... and here we go! First half underway in a drizzly north London!
    • - Coppell has made six changes in total to the side that lost to Fulham last weekend. He says: "Each game is a different challenge. If we'd have won on Saturday, I wouldn't have made changes. Arsenal are an exceptional side at home so we have to cater for that."
    • - For Reading, it looks like Steve Coppell is going to play with just Dave Kitson up front, with Kevin Doyle starting on the bench. Captain Graeme Murty returns to the side, but Nicky Shorey is surprisingly dropped. Jimmy Kebe makes his debut.
    • - So, Emmanuel Eboue is finally relegated to the bench where he can do no more harm, while Theo Walcott gets the nod to show us all what he can do. Almunia is stil out injured so Mad Jens Lehmann continues to deputiese between the sticks with Vito Mannone on the bench.
    • - Taking charge of today's game is Peter Walton (Northamptonshire).
    • - And Reading: Hahnemann, Murty, Sonko, Ingimarsson, Bikey, Rosenior, Kebe, Cisse, Harper, Convey, Kitson - Subs: Federici, Doyle, Fae, Matejovsky, Duberry
    • - The starting XIs are in... here's how Arsenal will line up: Lehmann, Toure, Gallas, Song Billong, Clichy, Walcott, Fabregas, Silva, Hleb, Van Persie, Adebayor - Subs: Mannone, Senderos, Denilson, Bendtner, Eboue
    • - Hello and welcome to eurosport.yahoo.com's LIVE coverage of the first game of the day... it's Arsenal against Reading at the Emirates!

  • Team Stats

    Arsenal Stats Reading
    71% Possession 28%
    25 Shots 5
    10 Shots on target 2
    1 Saves 5
    12 Corners 4
    16 Fouls 7
    5 Offsides 4
    0 Yellow cards 3
    0 Red cards 0
    22 Tackles 32
    514 Accurate passes 140
    76 Bad passes 31

  • Player Stats

    G =
    Goals
    S =
    Shots
    SoT =
    Shot on Target
    F =
    Fouls
    FW =
    Fouls Won
    O =
    Offsides
    A =
    Assists
    AP =
    Accurate Passes
    BP =
    Bad Passes
    T =
    Tackles
    • Arsenal
      G S SoT F FW O A AP BP T
      1 Jens Lehmann 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 18 0 0
      22 Gaël Clichy 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 55 17 4
      5 Kolo Toure 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 21 0 1
      10 William Gallas 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 53 2 0
      17 Alexandre Song 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 68 11 2
      4 Francesc Fabregas 0 5 2 1 2 0 1 94 16 3
      19 Gilberto Silva 1 3 2 0 0 0 0 37 0 3
      32 Theo Walcott 0 4 1 0 1 0 0 18 1 0
      13 Alexander Hleb 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 43 11 2
      25 Emmanuel Adebayor 1 3 1 1 1 1 0 26 8 0
      11 Robin Van Persie 0 6 3 2 5 3 0 48 9 3
      26 Nicklas Bendtner 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 4 1 2
      15 Denilson Pereira Neves 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 10 0 1
      6 Philippe Senderos 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      40 Vito Mannone 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      27 Emmanuel Eboue 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 19 0 1
    • Reading
      G S SoT F FW O A AP BP T
      1 Marcus Hahnemann 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 16 2 0
      5 Ibrahima Sonko 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 1 1 2
      22 André Stéphane Bikey 0 2 1 5 1 0 0 17 1 4
      19 Liam Rosenior 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 14 8 7
      2 Graeme Murty 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15 3 2
      16 Ivar Ingimarsson 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 1 4
      15 James Harper 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 8 1 4
      4 Khalifa Cissé 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 8 2 2
      30 Jimmy Kebe 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 12 1 0
      17 Bobby Convey 0 2 1 0 1 0 0 14 4 2
      12 Dave Kitson 0 0 0 1 3 3 0 12 4 3
      28 Marek Matejovsky 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 2 1
      20 Emerse Fae 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 5 1 1
      9 Kevin Doyle 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      32 Adam Federici 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
      29 Michael Duberry 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 3 0 0

  • Summary

    • 83' Fabregas! Must be! No! Duberry gets back to block his effort on the line! That should have been a third!
    • 78' Oooh! Duberry gets on the end of the corner at the near post! But it's deflected wide for another corner kick... Bendtner horribly at fault with some poor marking there...
    • 77' Ooooh! Convey nearly gets one back for Reading! He skips past Clichy and Song before firing a shot off! Lehmann is forced into tipping his effort over the bar for a corner!
    • 73' Walcott off the bar! He curls one with his left foot... Hahnemann's beaten, but the bar comes to Reading's aid!
    • 72' Ooooh! What a strike from Van Persie! His effort strikes the bar, then the post and back out again! He thinks it's over the line, but it's not and the referee waves play on!
    • 68' Walcott clips the ball into the centre... Fabregas! Oooh! He gets under it far too much and his header loops over Hahnamann's bar!
    • 59' Oh! Hleb looks like he slaps Murty in the face! Murty goes down, and when he gets up he's not a happy camper! He could have gone for that....
    • 54' Reading all over the show at the back here! RVP is the instigator... it's like pin ball in the box! But Arsenal can't capitalise and Reading live to fight another day!
    • 50' Walcott's through here... Hahnemann is way off his line! What's he doing? Walcott tries to loop the ball over the keeper, but he can't get much purchase on the ball and Reading survive!
    • 45'+1 Gilberto again! Oooh! Hahnemann again brought into action!
    • 44' A neat back heel from Fabregas gives Toure a shooting opportunity! Another decent stop from Hahnemann! Arsenal rampant!
    • 42' RVP should make it three here! Adebayor cuts it back from the byline... it evades Walcott, but not the Dutchman! But Hahnemann gets down well to make the save!
    • 38' GOAL! TWO NIL! It's Gilberto who nets from 25 yards, thanks to a big deflection off the head of Bikey! The Brazilian slips as he shoots, but it's still too much for Hahnemann and Arsenal lead by two goals to nil!
    • 33' At the other end, Harper gets on the end of a deep ball into the box... but his header is always going wide... that's Reading's first attempt on goal so far today.
    • 32' Here come Arsenal again! Toure breaks down the right hand side after a lovely reverse pass from RVP... he cuts it back, but Fabregas can't quite get to it! Liquid football from the Gunners!
    • 30' GOAL! Adebayor breaks the deadlock! It's a super finish from the Togo striker, taking Toure's through ball past Sonko with some neat control before slotting into the bottom corner! 1-0 Arsenal, and you have to say, they deserve that...
    • 30' Oooh! Absolutely brilliant play from Arsenal! Fabregas and Van Persie work the short corner superbly... but Song's header is poor and it goes wide of the post!
    • 29' Fabregas over the free kick... he leaves it for Van Persie! Oooh! Inches wide of the post!
    • 27' Walcott plays a brilliant one-two to get free into the box... he cuts the ball back! Oh, but that's good defending from Sonko, who hacks clear!
    • 19' Ingimarsson makes a total hash of a clearance... the ball skews off the outside of his boot and up over Hahnemann! The keeper spins on a sixpence and hares back towards his goal to retrieve the ball... close shave for the visitors!
    • 11' Adebayor with a free header! But it's a terrible effort and ball bounces wide of the mark! Awful, awful marking from Reading, with Cisse apparently the main culprit.
    • 9' What a pass from Hleb to put Fabregas through on goal! But Cisse does well to get back and put enough pressure on him and in the end Fabregas's shot is weak and straight into the arms of Hahnemann!

Live Team Line-Up

  • Referee: Peter Walton

  • Arsenal

    Manager: Arsene Wenger

    Captain: William Gallas

    On the Field

    • Lehmann
    • Toure Substitution Out (60′)
    • Song
    • Gallas
    • Clichy
    • Walcott
    • Fabregas
    • Gilberto Silva Goal
    • Hleb Substitution Out (74′)
    • van Persie
    • Adebayor Goal Substitution Out (74′)

    Subs

    • Senderos
    • Eboue Substitution In60′
    • Bendtner Substitution In74′
    • Denilson Substitution In74′
    • Mannone

    Injured

    None

    Suspended

    • Diaby

  • Reading

    Manager: Steve Coppell

    Captain: Graeme Murty

    On the Field

    • Hahnemann
    • Murty
    • Sonko Yellow Card Substitution Out (74′)
    • Ingimarsson
    • Bikey Yellow Card
    • Rosenior
    • Cisse
    • Harper Substitution Out (74′)
    • Kebe Substitution Out (79′)
    • Convey
    • Kitson Yellow Card

    Subs

    • Duberry Substitution In74′
    • Doyle
    • Matejovsky Substitution In79′
    • Federici
    • Fae Substitution In74′

    Injured

    • Gunnarsson

    Suspended

    None