What an enjoyable experience this game was, (despite the lank haired plank next to me in the pub who kept snapping his chewing gum – does that irritate anyone else?). I thought we might struggle in this fixture and my initial fears were not exactly allayed by Arsene’s decision to go with the 4-5-1 we typically deploy against teams like Manchester United and Chelsea away from home. Quite what Reading have done to garner so much respect I am not sure. I suspect that had Robin Van Persie been fit we would have seen a different formation. More than one gobshite – stand up, Steven Gerrard – has commented that Arsenal have been ’lucky’ not to suffer more injuries this season. Given our terrible luck in recent years I think we are overdue a run without any serous absences, but these people have glossed over the fact we have been shorn of our best striker for the last month.

No matter. Despite using what appeared to be a 7-2-1 formation to stop us scoring, Reading are not in the habit of marshalling ranks of defenders and frustrating as seen for most of the first half. But having taken the lead, there was a certain inevitability to what followed. Matthieu Flamini bagged his first of a season and very well deserved it was to. Nicknamed Gattuso by his team mates he really is undroppable at the moment – perhaps we should re-brand him Flattuso. He finished off some excellent work from Abebayor and Hleb and ensured we went into the break ahead, after much huffing and puffing.

While Arsenal had dominated first half possession with relatively little effect, the second half saw us toy with Reading like a sadistic cat. The second goal was a thing of real beauty, Adebayor eventually passing the ball home from about twelve yards after he had carried the ball thirty yards and exchanged passes with Rosicky and then Cesc. He should have been given a second soon after following some exquisite interplay with the Little Mozart, but the eejit on the touchline thought it was offside. What happened to giving the benefit of the doubt to the attacking side? Goal number three did arrive courtesy of Alex Hleb, who seems to have been possessed by the spirit of George Best. He tricks, he jinks – let’s hope he stays off the drink. After sticking Marcus Hahnemann, (who looks he spends his spare time listening to Pantera) on his arse, Alex fired home into the roof of the net. There was enough time for Arsenal to gift Nicky Shorey a goal, but the two goal advantage ensured that we go into the wilderness of international week top of the shop.

After twelve games we have dropped just six points and remain unbeaten and top of the Premier League, having scored more goals than any other team. All those doom-mongers forecasting that we’d struggle to score any goals at all without Thierry Henry and who thought we’d be lucky to get a UEFA Cup spot – where are you now? We should never, ever doubt Arsene Wenger. He has delivered sumptuous and scintillating football without anything like the resources available to United and without Abramovich’s putrid roubles. We need to rally around this precocious team and back them to the hilt, as there really is no limit to what they can achieve. We have still only played two league games outside London and the South East and failed to win either, which suggests that we need to counsel against over-exuberance, but with Van Persie back I am confident December can see us extend our unbeaten run in all competitions. Come on you rip-roarin’ Gunners!