Young Gunners hit the target

Arsenal 3 Reading 0

While Reading contrived to miss a hatful of chances, with Manuel Almunia excellent in goal, Arsenal's two talented young strikers Robin van Persie and Jose Antonio Reyes both finished with aplomb before half-time.

Then again, while that international duo impressed, so too did pacy young winger Quincy Owusu-Abeyie, as well as teenage striker Arturo Lupoli, who scored Arsenal's third within two minutes of coming off the bench.

Reading, meanwhile, endured the end to their 23-game unbeaten run in all competitions, even if they impressed in all areas apart from the most important of all in front of goal.

No wonder their former Arsenal trio of Graham Stack, Steve Sidwell and James Harper had failed to make it at Highbury. For the Gunners have a veritable United Nations of impressive young talent at their disposal.

Reading carved out numerous openings but contrived to squander all of them. Striker Dave Kitson was the most culpable of all, starting early on when he turned inside Johan Djourou only to be denied by Almunia, who had rushed off his line to block.

The difference between the Premiership and the Championship can often be most evident in terms of finishing and that much was shown by Reyes on 13 minutes.

Owusu-Abeyie slipped a neat pass into the Spaniard's path after evading the offside trap and, having sidestepped his way past Stack, he calmly clipped the ball into the empty net.

Arsenal made elementary mistakes at the back but were not punished, with Kitson directing a point-blank header straight at Almunia.

It was a costly miss. Just a minute later, Arsenal sped downfield, with Van Persie finding Larsson, who, in turn, picked out Reyes on the edge of the penalty area. The Spaniard managed to lay the ball off as he was tackled and it fell to Van Persie, who fizzed his shot past Stack.

After Kerrea Gilbert's superb curling effort had been foiled by Stack's acrobatics in the second-half, the 18-year-old Italian striker Lupoli made an immediate impact with an accomplished finish to make it 3-0.

Almunia pulled off another superb late save, this time from Reading substitute Kevin Doyle's header. It was that kind of night.

ARSENAL: Almunia, Eboue, Larsson, Senderos, Gilbert, Muamba, Djourou, Flamini, Reyes (Cygan 75), Owusu-Abeyie (Bendiner 83), Van Persie (Lupoli 63).

READING: Stack (Hahnemann 83), Murty, Ingimarsson, Sonko, Shorey (Makin 59), Oster, Harper, Sidwell, Hunt, Kitson, Lita (Doyle 72). Referee: L Mason (Lancashire)