Arsenal's defeat to Bradford City in the Capital One Cup is still very fresh in everyone's mind, so the Gunner's will be under pressure once again. The last time Arsene Wenger's squad won an away match in the Premier League was back on October 6th as they bounced back from an early West Ham goal to win 1-3.
The Gunners elimination from the Cup may well have sent ripples through the Arsenal locker room, but bouncing back from it will be important.
After the match, Arsene Wenger continued be the same way he has been throughout his Arsenal career and preferred to highlight the fact that his squad gave it their all on the pitch, opposed to pointing fingers at his players that he so often defends.
"The squad felt disappointment and frustration, that is normal when you go out in a competition like that," admitted Wenger after the defeat on penalties at Bradford. "Having said that, we can only look at ourselves, get on with it and look to the future."
"This team cares, is serious and wants to do well. I do not question the spirit of the team. We are top professional people. What is important is what happens tomorrow, not what happened yesterday. We are sorry, but what is important is the next game."
Having gone 269 minutes without scoring a goal from open play in the EPL, Arsenal will be in serious trouble if they continue that negative streak against a last placed Reading.
Reading manager Brian McDermott knows the difficulties he will face not only against Arsenal, but for the remainder of the season. Fighting to stay in the Premier League won't be easy, but McDermott is confident that with some acquisitions in the January transfer window, his squad could get out of the relegation zone.
"Staying in the Premier League for us is massively important, of course it is," said McDermott ahead of Monday's game. "But, even spending a lot of money doesn't guarantee anything. You can't guarantee anything by spending 20, 30 million quid. It would be good to get two or three lads in that have played at the level, know the level - have that nous. That isn't cheap."
Previous Matches
10-30-12 Reading 5-7 Arsenal (Capital One Cup)
04-19-08 Arsenal 2-0 Reading
11-12-07 Reading 1-3 Arsenal
03-03-07 Arsenal 2-1 Reading
10-22-06 Reading 0-4 Arsenal
11-29-05 Arsenal 3-0 Reading
Prediction
Reading hasn't won in the Premier League since November 17th when they defeated Everton 2-1 at home. Since then, they have endured five straight defeats with only one match coming at home, yet they were outscored 12 to 5.
With Jason Roberts, Pavel Pogrebnyak, Hal Robson-Kanu and Jimmy Kebe doubtful for Monday's match, Jem Karacan still remains out of the squad with a knee injury. Arsenal will be missing Fabianski and About Diaby who have been out of action for quite sometime, but they may welcome back Olivier Giroud, Theo Walcott and even Laurent Koscielny who have all been out with injuries.
If Walcott and Giroud feature for the Gunners, that will be a big offensive boost, considering how the two of them played the last time these two met. Although it was a Capital One Cup match, Reading featured a number of their first team players, so Giroud and Walcott will be looking forward to this match.
In their last six meetings, Reading has been unable to defeat the Gunners although it look very probable the last time they met. The Reading players could well relive those moments in Monday nights match, making it hard for them to focus in the match.
Both sides need a victory, but looking at both their situations, you would have to believe that Arsenal are under more pressure to claim the three points. Many former and current Arsenal players have called on the squad to come out and stand by Arsene Wenger who needs the confidence boost from the players he always stands by, although they tend to let him down sometimes.
Arsenal should be able to see off a Reading side that has struggled all season. If Walcott and Giroud feature, the Arsenal offense may enjoy some goals, but if they fail to feature, we could see another heartless performance from the Gunners. Failure to win could certainly cause mass chaos at the Emirates.
Reading 0-2 Arsenal
