Madejski Stadium, Reading
Monday, December 17
3:00 p.m. EST, 20:00 GMT
- Match Officials
- Referee: Anthony Taylor
- Assistants: Andy Garratt and Gary Beswick
- 4th Official: Mark Clattenburg
- This Match, Last Time: Reading 1 - 3 Arsenal (November 12, 2007)
- All-Time in All Competitions: 10 Arsenal wins, no Reading wins, no draws
- Arsenal's League Form: D-W-D-D-L-W
- Reading's League Form: W-L-L-L-L-L
- Weather: Clear, 43 °F (6 °C)
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| Times are tough right now, so I'm replacing all normal images with pictures of animals from Twitter's @EmergencyPuppy. |
Okay, calm down. Calm down, stop yelling.
It's gonna be... calm down, shhh, just be quiet for... DAMN IT, STOP YELLING!
Yes, yes, things are bad right now. While it is not my job to do any sort of analysis of past events (I leave my analysis for the future based on past events,) I would feel remiss not to touch on the... touchy... subjects.
I've always been pretty firmly in the pro-Wenger camp, something which is becoming more and more difficult as results continue to falter. However, it is also already mid-December and the transfer window is opening again in just a couple of weeks. A new manager or even an interim manager would not have enough time to come up with an attack plan to fix a desperately thin squad in this amount of time. Changing managers now would do more damage than standing pat, I believe. At least give Wenger one last chance to fix this mess. I do not trust any currently available possible replacements to do a better job with the same players. If the mess is not fixed by season's end, then some serious moves have to be made.
Alright, on to Monday night's match. Reading have lost five straight, and they and QPR look pretty much like locks to be relegated.
Three points, please!
Arsenal Squad News
Out: Some People (with injured things)
Doubts: Everyone Else (shattered confidence)
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| I think this squad could beat Bradford City. |
- Abou Diaby? What do we think, about two or three weeks away? It's gotta be something like that.
- Theo Walcott? Acute contract-itis.
- Laurent Koscielny? Still out with a... what was it? Thigh? Groin?
- Andre Santos? Tummyache.
- Olivier Giroud? Missed the fiasco with a back injury. I think he'll return. If not, there's always Gervinho up top, right? Amiright, folks?
- Lukasz Fabianski? Next question.
- Can't we just agree that this is all Denilson's fault?
Reading Squad News
Out: Karacan (knee), McCarthy (shoulder), Morrison (foot)
Doubts: Roberts (knock), Pogrebnyak (knock), Kebe (who's there?), Robson-Kanu (knock) (knock who?) (I'm sorry...)
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| Leicester City are nicknamed the Foxes... so this picture is pretty much irrelevant for Reading... |
"With the Arsenal clash still days away, Brian [McDermott] couldn't confirm whether a number of players would be available for Monday night."
Oh well, that's just... this is no better than the Arsenal news situation!
Jason Roberts pulled out of the squad the day before the loss to Sunderland, and Reading will "wait and see." As for Pavel Pogrebnyak, Brian McDermott said "we don't know."
You know, this is really unhelpful, guys.
"The fitness of Hal Robson-Kanu will also be waited on." Jimmy Kebe will "hopefully train."
Gahhhhhhhhh, this is the worst.
Let's talk about who we know is out: Jem Karacan has returned to training after a setback in his MCL injury, but he will be short for this match. Alex McCarthy is out for the season. Sean Morrison is out for an indeterminate period of time.
Current Form
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| Arsenal's last road win came at the Madejski. This dog is all ready to have another away day. |
To make ourselves feel better, let's talk about how Reading have lost five in a row (sorry, Reading fans who are reading an Arsenal blog, for some reason.) While Arsenal were struggling in Bradford, Reading shipped three goals to a Sunderland side that entered the match with fewer goals scored than games played.
Reading have won once in the league this year, a shock 2-1 win over Everton on November 17. Since then, they have lost 3-2 to Wigan, 1-0 to Aston Villa, 4-3 to Manchester United, 1-0 to Southampton, and 3-0 to Sunderland. Relegation seems to beckon, based on these results.
Judging by what I've read around the Internet, Reading probably fancy their chances against Arsenal less than Bradford City did.
Match Facts
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| Marouane Chamakh scored twice at Reading in the 7-5 absurd-fest. |
You'll likely already recall the story of the 7-5 cup tie, but I'll tell you again, because we all need to feel a little better about our decisions to support Arsenal Football Club. As you know, Reading went ahead 4-0 in half an hour. Arsenal pinged one back just before halftime. Then, they scored three more, including the equalizer with the final kick of regular time. Then, Marouane Chamakh scored to put Arsenal ahead, but Reading drew level again. In the 120th minute, Theo Walcott scored a winner. Then, Chamakh scored again, just to further confuse everyone.
Four of Arsenal's ten previous meetings with Reading have come in the league; the other six have come in cup ties. In 2006/07, Reading's first top flight season, Arsenal won 4-0 away and 2-1 at the Emirates. In 2007/08, Reading's last top flight season before this year, Arsenal won 3-1 away and 2-0 at the Emirates.
The Referee
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| Here's the dog I voted for in November. |
As for Taylor's record with Reading, this will be his first such match this season. He last worked a Reading match on October 1 of last year, in the Championship, when the Royals drew 0-0 with Middlesbrough at the Madejski. He showed all of one yellow card in that match.
Around the League
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| Sunderland looks for their first win at Old Trafford since the late '60s and I think these surprise starters might help. |
That leaves six matches on Saturday, two on Sunday, and Reading v. Arsenal on Monday. Saturday's early match will take place in the North East, as struggling Newcastle host no-longer-unbeaten Manchester City. There's no late game, so the other five Saturday matches are at 10:00 a.m. Eastern time. Manchester United hosts Sunderland at Old Trafford; the Black Cats have not won there since 1968. Meanwhile, Liverpool hosts Aston Villa at Anfield, Norwich hosts Wigan at Carrow Road, QPR hosts Fulham in a West London derby, and Stoke hosts Everton at the Britannia.
On Sunday, Swansea takes their show on the road to face Tottenham at White Hart Lane, so let's hope the Swans win another one in North London. In the late game, stumbling West Brom hosts West Ham at the Hawthorns.
The reverse of these fixtures will be played the weekend of March 30-31.
