Wenger braced for a summer daze

THEY were selling ice creams at the Emirates stadium. There were few takers on a day cold enough to make your teeth ache but Arsenal could be forgiven for wanting to fast-forward to the balmy days of summer.

This is still a club in mourning for the death of its season and the mortal wounds inflicted by Liverpool, in the Champions League, and then Manchester United in the title race. Arsenal had clearly anticipated the funeral atmosphere and made cardboard clackers available to supporters in a bid to spread some cheer.

It failed: instead, the already morose home players emerged from the tunnel to a long, drawn-out death rattle which echoed around an otherwise silent arena.

Even a comfortable victory secured by some zesty, expansive football against feeble opponents could not lift the supporters’ spirits.

Arsene Wenger would presumably like nothing better than to draw a thick red line underneath this season yet there is no guarantee that the summer months will clear their gloom. Wenger might have grown accustomed to apocalyptic end-of-season prophecies during his tenure but the suspicion is growing that the soothsayers might have a point this time.

This was almost certainly Jens Lehmann’s last game for the club, while Gilberto Silva, granted a rare start on Saturday, will discuss his future with Wenger at the end of the season.

‘‘We always speak very nicely,’’ he said. ‘‘I really want to stay but it’s hard to watch from the bench. I don’t know whether you can get assurances but I want to talk about my prospects and whether I have a chance to play.’’

Those departures will hardly come as a surprise. More worryingly, Mathieu Flamini will also leave unless he signs a £55,000-a-week contract offer within the next nine days and Alexander Hleb — who could be facing FA disciplinary action after being caught on camera slapping Reading defender Graeme Murty in the face on Saturday — is attracting interest from Barcelona.

Then there is Cesc Fabregas. The midfielder is always high on the agenda of any Real Madrid board meeting but he is also the player Wenger can least do without. The Spaniard’s standards may have slipped from the dizzying highs he touched at the start of the season but he is still the team’s most creative force, unplayable at his best. That is why Wenger’s ears started burning when Fabregas gave a less than emphatic response to an inquiry over his future from a television reporter on Saturday.

Arsenal’s PR machine quickly whirred into action, with Fabregas duly issuing a clarifying statement. ‘‘My future belongs to Arsenal and that is the truth,’’ he said. ‘‘I do not know why my name is always put in with another team. I have always said I want to play for Arsenal. It is the best team I can be at.’’

These were not hollow words. For all the uncertainty, there is much to whet the appetite at the Emirates ahead of next season. Carlos Vela, the exciting young Mexican, will be recalled from his loan spell with Sevilla and the prospect of his quicksilver talents being deployed in tandem with Theo Walcott, now blossoming at a furious rate, is enough to justify Wenger’s optimism.

“From this season we should get the belief we can win trophies and come back to win the title,” he said. “We were not far from the level of Manchester United — that is why I am so insistent I keep this team together and that we try to come back and have a good go next year. It would be criminal not to believe we could do it.”

What Reading would give for Arsenal’s supposed problems. Steve Coppell’s team have lost form at the worst possible moment: winless in three games, goalless in four and apparently devoid of fighting spirit. They were inexplicably limp on Saturday and never looked likely to respond after Emmanuel Adebayor had slid home in the 30th minute. Instead, Gilberto added a deflected second shortly afterwards and only the woodwork prevented further additions to the scoreline from Robin van Persie and Walcott.

Coppell suggested he had not budgeted for any points — an argument reflected in his timid line-up — but he might have remembered the spirited performances from Birmingham City which secured two points against Wenger’s team earlier this season. They might yet keep City up at Reading’s expense.

‘‘I’m hardly insulated from my situation,’’ Coppell said. ‘’All I can do is work hard and get the best out of the unit we have. I’m not here to be dramatic but I earn my living from results and if you don’t get results, you don’t get a living.’’

Arsenal, it seems, are not the only ones facing an uncertain summer.

ARSENAL (4-4-2): Lehmann 7, Toure 7 (Eboue 60, 6), Gallas 7, Song 6, Clichy 7, Walcott 7, Fabregas 8, Gilberto 6, Hleb 6 (Denilson 74, 5), van Persie 7, Adebayor 7 (Bendtner 74, 5).

Subs Not Used: Senderos, Mannone.

READING (4-5-1): Hahnemann 7, Murty 6, Sonko 6 (Duberry 74, 5), Ingimarsson 5, Bikey 5, Rosenior 5, Kebe (Matejovsky 79, 5), Harper 5 (Fae 74, 5), Cisse 5, Convey 4, Kitson 4.

Subs Not Used: Doyle, Fedirici.

REFEREE: Peter Walton (Northamptonshire) 6: Missed Alexander Hleb’s silly slap at Graeme Murty but handled everything else with aplomb.

MATCH RATING: *** Arsenal were as good as you would expect against opponents who possessed neither the stomach or the quality for the fight.