Match Preview and A Drop in the Table

With Saturday’s matches being finished the dust has settled to reveal Everton and Aston Villa jumping above Arsenal in the standings. Not a big worry as both teams immediately above us are 2 games ahead at the current moment. Having said that, if we take a full 3 points on Sunday at Reading and Blackburn can manage a win against Bolton at home, we’ll be in a comfortable third position on goal difference.

Reading have troubled both Manchester United and Chelsea this season, so I don’t expect this to be an easy game. That being said, I think we can still manage to leave the Madejski Stadium with a win. It’s all up to Wenger to get the team ready, select the right squad, and then make sure the men are in their best frame of mind.

I’d like to see Henry and Adebayor up front. Adebayor’s physical strength and strong aerial presence should help against a team like Reading. With Ljungberg still out from the worthless International qualifiers I suspect we’ll see Gilberto, Fabregas, Rosicky, and Hleb along the midfield. The defense could be unchanged with youngster Hoyte, the formidable Toure, and Djourou and Gallas stepping in. We’ve also got Senderos back, so here’s hoping we’ll see a sub on in the second. I don’t know if Clichy is quite ready for a start so the same could be said for him. However, according to the BBC pre-match news, Clichy will get his first start of the season.

If Reading play a high line, we’ll easily break through on long lead passes to our speedsters. On the other hand if Reading play back and try to just hold the fort, maybe we could see another cannon-like strike from Rosicky. The most important key to winning this match is to make sure our passes are connecting consistently. In the Moscow match we were turning the ball over left and right.

I’ll be keeping an eye on Bobby Convey, the American midfielder, and Marcus Hahnemann (Read this article!), the American goalkeeper, for Reading. Although I hope we walk all over Reading like a marching band, I’d still like to see Convey play a good match. The only way the U.S. will ever match the rest of the world in the beautiful game is if we have regular starters in the European leagues. It’s started with the Premiership, and that will always be the obvious league to head to given a lack of language difference. I previously mentioned rumors of Claudio Reyna returning to New York City from Manchester City so hopefully Convey can help Reading create a lasting presence in the Prem.

Meanwhile we have news about the injury stricken Lauren from the club web site. He will still be out for several more months, likely the start of the new year in January, with his knee injury being more severe than anyone had thought. This will mean that the right back hasn’t seen action for approximately a year. It’s amazing how much one injury can affect the squad. Fortunately for us it has been in a positive light, with Eboue and Hoyte getting valuable first team experience.

I don’t think you will see Lauren in the team before January. He played up to the limit of his pain and then maybe he played a little too long. That created some damage in his knee which had to be repaired. But he is a tough, tough boy. He works hard and he will come back.

Make sure you check out the Arseblog Arsecast from Friday. Senor Arseblogger does an interview with Goodplaya and shares some news about the squad and the site. He also gives Reading FC a ring, fucking hilarious.