Monday night football was Arsenal share of the week 17 premier League match as we travelled to the Madejski Stadium. The League Cup 7-5 victory against reading was our last visit to the stadium in October and a lot of goals were expected. A response was needed after that disappointing knock out by Bradford.

16 years for a gaffer and 16 games for another in the EPL; the two coaches needed a win to turn things around for their sides. Reading languishes in bottom place why Arsenal was 8th. A win would put us in 5th behind spurs and the win came with a lot of goals.

Santi Cazorla scored his first hat trick for the club as the gunners ran riots over the Royals. Podolski and Walcott scored on both sides of the Spaniard’s goals.

The return of the Arsenal?
The return of the Arsenal?

It took the gunners 14 minutes to open scoring as podolski collected a gibbs cross before putting it pass Federici. Federici denied Walcott of Arenal’s second after the yet-to-sign Englishman was put through on goal.

The Reading goalie couldn’t help Cazorla’s quick fire double in the first half as the Spaniard scored 2 goals in 2 minutes 30 seconds. A superb header from Podolski cross and a shot from Gibbs head-back put Arsenal 3-0 up at the break.

santi acrobatic header
santi acrobatic header

Arsenal were fast, purposeful and determined to make this match their turnaround. Chamberlain huffed and puffed, Santi turned and passed, Wilshere flickered and ran, Walcott raced and shot, but the 4th goal, Santi’s 3rd came in the 2nd half. A nice cross from Podolski was tapped in Cazorla.

Reading scored two goals after erroneous ball handling by arsenal and that 4-4 at Saint James Park came to limelight. I became uncomfortable with Arsenal players slipping here and there. My fears were thrown away as Walcott netted in the 81st minute to make it 5-2, killing any hope of a Reading comeback. Giroud missed late on after coming in as a sub for walcott.

3 points in the bag and we are 5th on the log, 2 points behind 3rd placed Chelsea. We scored 5 goals from open play which a great positive compared to the WBA penalties. For the umpteenth time we fail to keep a clean sheet.

Santi Cazorla is my man of the match. He should be everyone’s choice following his hat trick and assist in the game. Worthy mentions should be given to Podolski, Gibbs, Wilshere and the Arsenal players last night. They reminded me of the good old Arsenal.

Before I end this post, I am happy for Gervinho. You know why? He played one of his best games for Arsenal in a long while at Reading (on the bench)

We travel again on Saturday to face Wigan Athletic. 3 points would be welcomed.

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