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| (Courtesy of markhillary - Flickr) |
Monday
Night Football this week comes from The Madejski Stadium where both teams are
in desperate need of a win. Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal, who started the season
with some promise, now lie in 8th place, although a win in Reading
tonight would see them go up to 5th ahead of Everton and West Brom
on goal difference only. Reading
slipped into bottom place over the weekend thanks to QPR’s first win of the
season and even a win here would still see them 3 points off safety. Safe to
say that anything but a win for either of these sides would spell trouble.
Reading:
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| McDermott desperately needs a win tonight (Courtesy of Pyro's Pictures - Flickr) |
Since a run
from the end of October to the middle of November where The Royals went four
games unbeaten Reading have lost 5 games on the trot, moving them from “decent
chance of survival” to “number 1 relegation candidate.” It’s not easy for Brian
McDermott, some will say he over-achieved last year and as a result of this and
a lack of spending power Reading never really stood a chance. The most
disappointing part of their recent form will be that, apart from the close home
defeat to Man United, their losses have come against teams who are also
struggling; namely Villa, Sunderland, Wigan and Southampton. McDermott will
have wanted at least 6 points from those games I’m sure. Today is a much bigger
task; they face a team who, while also struggling for form, is full of the kind
of attacking players with whom Reading’s defence have been unable to cope all
season. Reading have the 2nd worst defence in the league, with 31
goals conceded so far, and are quickly catching up first placed Southampton,
who have actually been defending well of late. This problem will have to be the
main focus of McDermott’s training schedule as only Wigan have been able to
survive the drop with a defensive record this bad in over 10 years. The attack,
on the other hand, hasn’t been doing too poorly, as evidenced by the 3 goals
scored in said game against Man United. Adam Le Fondre is now the clubs top
scorer with 4 goals in 16 league appearances and McDermott will be hoping that
his main striker will be able to find the net again tonight.
Arsenal:
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| Cazorla is key to Arsenal's success (Courtesy of Ronnie MacDonald) |
While Reading are being
consistently poor Arsenal are being frustratingly inconsistent. Impressive wins
against West Brom and local rivals Tottenham have been overshadowed by disappointing
draws against Villa and Fulham and a very poor home defeat to Swansea. Their away form, however, has been
the main culprit for the current position of the club, with only 2 wins on the
road from 8 games, Arsene Wenger will be wondering what he can do tonight to
avoid another upset. It is impossible to point to any one factor as to why
Arsenal have been performing so inconsistently. There have been times when The
Gunners have been playing the sort of flowing football that we have come to expect
from Wenger’s men, their attack has played imperiously at times and they have
only conceded 6 goals on the road, joint best in the league with Man City.
The problem is that this can all go missing for 90 minutes, and when this happens
it has been the same old story, there has been no one willing to stand up and
pull their team through. Arsenal still cannot win dirty on a regular basis. If
you look at the 2 Manchester
teams this season more than half of their wins have come from grit and work
ethic rather than beautiful, easy-to-watch football. Back to tonight’s game;
Wenger will need to hope that it is one of those games where Cazorla, Walcott,
Giroud and Podolski all link up like they are long lost brothers and that Jack
Wilshere is able to control the tempo from his deeper midfield position. If all
this goes right the Arsenal should have absolutely no problem dispatching Reading, it all depends
on which Arsenal shows up.
Verdict:
This is a
must win for both teams, Reading cannot afford to stay 6 points off safety with
predominantly top-half opposition in store for them over the Christmas period. If
Arsenal fail to win there will be serious questions raised about whether or not
they will qualify for the Champions League. When it all comes down to it I don’t
believe that Reading’s defence has enough about it to keep out the punch that
Arsenal are packing, no matter how inconsistently they may have been
performing. Away win. 3-1
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