Gunners cruise past hapless Reading

Arsenal 2 Reading 0

Arsenal turned back the clock to cruise past relegation battlers Reading at Emirates Stadium and keep alive their hopes of finishing as runners-up in the Premier League.

The Gunners’ dreams of the title and European glory have evaporated in recent weeks, but they dominated from kick-off today, with recalled Theo Walcott producing another impressive display.

Leading scorer Emmanuel Adebayor put the hosts ahead on the half hour, before Gilberto doubled the lead following a deflection off Reading defender Andre Bikey.

It should have been more in the second half as rampant Arsenal twice hit the woodwork through a superb free-kick from Robin van Persie and the excellent Walcott, while Cesc Fabregas had an effort cleared off the line.

With the gap on Chelsea – who still have to face leaders Manchester United - back down to four points with three games to play, there will be renewed hope the Gunners can yet salvage something from a campaign which promised so much, but again failed to deliver silverware.

Manager Arsene Wenger, in his pre-match programme notes, accepted he should have “done things differently here and there” to try and prevent Arsenal’s season falling apart over the past two months.

And today’s tactical switch of including Walcott on the right instead of Emmanuel Eboue proved a shrewd move – one which arguably should have been made weeks ago.

Arsenal started well and carved open the Reading defence when Alexander Hleb released Fabregas through the middle, but his touch was heavy and the ball rolled on into the grateful arms of Royals keeper Marcus Hahnemann.

The Gunners continued to press, and Van Persie’s centre picked out Adebayor in the six-yard box, but the leading scorer could only plant a disappointing header wide.

The Gunners were in full flow, with Walcott again causing havoc down the right with his run to the goal-line and cut-back which was hacked clear.

Dave Kitson was shown a yellow card for tripping Hleb in a central position, five yards outside the box, in the 27th minute.

From the resulting free-kick, Van Persie flashed a curling low effort towards the bottom corner, which Hahnemann tipped around his left-hand post at full stretch.

Arsenal eventually took the lead on the half-hour.

Kolo Toure floated a lovely ball over to the edge of the penalty area from the right.

Adebayor collected it on his thigh, before coolly slotting low past Hahnemann for his 27th goal of the season.

Arsenal deserved their advantage, and for once looked calm in possession having scored – a trait which deserted them in recent weeks and proved so costly against Chelsea, last week at United and, in the Champions League, versus Liverpool.

Relegation battlers Reading now faced an uphill battle to get anything from the game in their quest for points at the other end of the table.

That task got even harder on 38 minutes, when a deflected effort from Gilberto made it 2-0.

Arsenal moved the ball down the left, before Fabregas cut it back to the Brazilian, in space on the edge of the area.

His 20-yard strike was on target, but it cannoned off the head of Andre Bikey and flew past a wrong-footed Hahnemann into the top left corner.

The American was kept busy as half-time approached, again saving well at his near post to deny Van Persie and Toure.

There was, though, a let-off for the Royals keeper at the start of the second half, when Hahnemann decided to race out of his goal as Walcott chased a long through ball, only to be beaten to it by the pacey winger.

However, there was enough cover to allow the visitors’ defence to eventually clear.

At the other end, Arsenal captain William Gallas tripped Kitson out on the left. But the resulting free-kick was taken quickly and wasted – which just about summed up Reading’s afternoon so far.

Just after the hour, in an off the ball incident not spotted by referee Peter Walton, Hleb appeared to catch Graeme Murty in the face with his open hand - which left the Royals skipper fuming.

Arsenal were, nevertheless, in cruise control and it seemed only a mater of time before they added a third.

Walcott raced clear down the right and it needed a good interception from Liam Rosenior to block the winger’s low angled strike from just inside the box.

England squad man Walcott was a continued threat and he was tripped right on the edge of the area by Sonko.

From the resulting free-kick, in the 71st minute, Van Persie smashed the ball against the underside of the crossbar, then the right-hand post, but somehow it stayed out.

Moments later, Walcott saw his curling effort also come back off the bar, as Hahnemann watched.

Reading finally managed an effort on goal when Bobby Convey’s drive was beaten away by Lehmann.

Arsenal, though, could have added more as Fabregas’ effort was blocked on the line by substitute Michael Duberry and another effort was ruled offside as they comfortably closed out for their 13th home Premier League win.