.png) The scoreboard following the final whistle. | |||||||
| Event | 2012–13 Football League Cup | ||||||
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| Afterextra time | |||||||
| Date | 30 October 2012 | ||||||
| Venue | Madejski Stadium, Reading | ||||||
| Referee | Kevin Friend (Leicestershire) | ||||||
| Attendance | 23,980[1] | ||||||
| Weather | Clear, 6 °C (43 °F)[2] | ||||||
The2012–13 Football League Cup fourth round tie pitted Premier League sidesReading andArsenal to contest for a quarter-final spot. The match ended in a 7–5 win for Arsenal, in the highest-scoring match in League Cup history. Reading had taken a 4–0 lead in the first half, butTheo Walcott reduced the deficit in first-half stoppage time. This was followed by second-half goals fromOlivier Giroud,Laurent Koscielny and Theo Walcott as the match ended 4–4 after regulation time. In extra-time, Arsenal took the lead throughMarouane Chamakh, beforePavel Pogrebnyak made it 5–5 with five minutes remaining; however late goals from Theo Walcott (to complete hishat-trick) and Chamakh handed Arsenal victory.[3]
The match is regarded as one of the most entertaining of recent history. It is the joint highest-scoring match in the history of Arsenal; it is also the joint-highest scoring match inEnglish League Cup history,[4] though at the time it was the outright record.[3]The match was the first time in Arsenal's history that they had come back from three or more goals down to win a match,[3] and the first time they had netted seven in an away tie since the 7–0 win atStandard Liège in the1993–94 European Cup Winners' Cup.
Arsenal lined up in a 4–5–1/4–2–3–1 formation, with Theo Walcott andAndrey Arshavin shifting between winging midfield and attack to support lone striker Marouane Chamakh.[5] Reading meanwhile set up with six changes from their last game; Arsenal made eleven.[6]
This game marked the tenth occasion that Reading and Arsenal had played each other, with the Gunners favourites to win the tie. They had won all ten previous meetings with "The Royals";[7] their most recent meeting had come in thePremier League in April 2008, which the Gunners won 2–0.[7] Arsenal were aiming to reach the last eight of the League Cup for the tenth successive season.[3]Pre-match, Arsenal stood 6th in Premier League, some six points off the top; in contrast Reading were 18th and one of two winless sides. Arsenal had started the Premier League season well, not losing until the sixth match and not conceding until the fourth, a 6–1 home win overSouthampton; however defeats toChelsea andNorwich City had pushed them down the table.[8]Meanwhile, Reading, newly promoted after winning theChampionship the previous season, had struggled to get to grips with the English top-flight. A 1–1 home draw withStoke City on the opening day was followed by four defeats in the next seven matches, which left them 19th; however, the Royals had a game in hand, after their away game againstSunderland was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.[9] However, a pair of 3-2 wins, first at home toPeterborough United, and then atQueens Park Rangers in the League Cup had set up the tie with Arsenal, who had thrashedCoventry City 6–1 at theEmirates Stadium in thethird round.[8]
The two sides had first met on 16 February 1935, in theFA Cup fifth round, where a solitary goal fromCliff Bastin handed the visiting Gunners a 2–0 victory.[10] They would meet a further three times before the turn of the century-all in domestic cup ties-and it was not until the2006–07 Premier League season that the two sides would meet in league competition. Arsenal won both games, 4–0 at theMadejski and 2–1 atHighbury.[7]Arsenal had up to that point scored 21 times against Reading; the Royals had, on the other hand, scored just four times in the fixture.[7]
At the Arsenal Annual General Meeting, manager Arsène Wenger had made it clear that the League Cup was fifth on his list of priorities; thePremier League,Champions League,FA Cup and top four all were more important, according to Wenger.[11] This statement had come after poor displays againstNorwich City andSchalke 04;[8] both games had ended in defeats. Arsenal responded to this with a narrow victory againstWigan Athletic at theEmirates Stadium,Mikel Arteta scoring a late winner. Reading bossBrian McDermott, having won theLeague Managers Association Championship Manager of the Year the previous campaign, had insisted that his players deserved a lot of credit after their 90th-minute equaliser at home toFulham, but conceded that they needed to "finish the job off", with his team having taken the lead four times in thePremier League that season and still not won.[12]McDermott had named a near full-strength team in the 3–2 third round win atQPR, but still made six changes to the side that drew 3–3 withFulham in thePremier League, including swapping goalkeeperAlex McCarthy withAdam Federici. A deep-lying 4–4–2 was selected byMcDermott, withJason Roberts andNoel Hunt being paired up front.[13] CaptainKaspars Gorkss retained his place. Arsenal meanwhile made eleven changes as Arsène Wenger rested numerous first-team players following their hard-fought home win over QPR; a 4–5–1 formation was favoured by the Frenchman, withAndrey Arshavin andTheo Walcott to shift from midfield in support ofMarouane Chamakh, withJohan Djourou captaining the side.
Arsenal kicked off the match in their classic red shirts with white sleeves; Reading in their home strip of blue and white hoops.[14]Reading started the match on the front foot, hitting the post in the 3rd minute throughSean Morrison, before aJay Tabb shot was blocked in the 9th minute.[15]But three minutes later, Reading had their goal.Andrey Arshavin gave the ball away and the home side quickly countered, withJason Roberts firing inHal Robson-Kanu`s cross to give Reading a "deserved" advantage.[15] It was soon 2–0, withChris Gunter firing the ball in from the byline, whereLaurent Koscielny attempted to divert clear, only to stab the ball into his own net.[15] Just two minutes later, andMikele Leigertwood had made it three. Seizing the ball after a cleared corner, he struck a fierce effort which was punched into the Arsenal goal byEmiliano Martinez. With eight minutes to go before half-time, a fast break from Reading saw Leigertwood findGarath McCleary out wide, and his cross was nodded in byNoel Hunt to make it 4–0 Reading.[16]
Two minutes of added time were awarded; in the last of those, a neat through-ball fromAndrey Arshavin found Walcott in acres of space, and the Englishman's dinked finish made it 4–1 at half-time.
The second half started with penalty calls from both sides, with Chamakh being booked for complaining about the latter one, and a post being struck by Walcott. Despite there being chances at both ends, it was Arsenal who struck first in the second half, Olivier Giroud steering a header into the far corner after a well-taken Walcott corner.[15]Arsenal continued to dominate the second half, but didn't get the crucial third goal until another Walcott corner was headed in-this time by Koscielny, who made amends for his first-half own goal to make it 4–3. Time was running out before Walcott surged into the box and fired towards goal, but the ball was seemingly hooked away byNicky Shorey before being fired in byCarl Jenkinson. The goal was credited to Walcott however, though it was not without controversy, as the goal had been scored in the 96th minute, with only four minutes of stoppage time being awarded. The game finished 4–4 and the game went toextra time, though firstOlivier Giroud andFrancis Coquelin had to collect his shirt from the crowd after throwing it in, seemingly thinking it was full-time.[17] Extra-time started with early chances for substituteThomas Eisfeld and Arshavin, neither of whom converted.[15] Half-time was drawing near when neat play on the left-hand side saw Arshavin lay the ball off to Chamakh, who scored his first goal in over a year to make it 5–4 to Arsenal.[15] However, the scoring was not done yet. With five minutes to go, a cross from Robson-Kanu evaded the Arsenal defenders and came to Gunter, whose deflected cross was nodded in byPavel Pogrebnyak to make it 5–5.[17] Reading now had the initiative, but had just two minutes of stoppage time. However, it was Arsenal who grabbed the crucial sixth goal after Arshavin-released down the left-saw his run and driving shot blocked by Federici before Walcott slammed it in to make it 6–5.But the scoring still was not done. After a final Reading attack, Walcott cleared the ball away only for Gunter to miss his header and give Chamakh a one-on-one with Federici, and his calm lobbed finish saw Arsenal make it 7–5. It proved to be the last act of the game, as Arsenal qualified for the quarter-finals of theEFL Cup for a tenth consecutive season.
| Reading | 5–7 (a.e.t.) | Arsenal |
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Roberts 12'Koscielny 18' (o.g.)Leigertwood 20'Hunt 37'Pogrebnyak 115' | Report | Walcott 45+2, 90+6, 120+1' Giroud 64'Koscielny 89'Chamakh 103, 120+3' |
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This match is widely regarded as one of the most remarkable of modern times.[17][3][18] It is also thought to be one of the finest comebacks in football history; it was the first time Arsenal had ever come back from a 3+ goal deficit to win.[3]Arsène Wenger described the Arsenal comeback as something that took them from "disaster to pride." "We went from disaster to pride," he said, "you cannot play for Arsenal and give up. It was 4-0 and could have been one or two more. We came back but at 89 minutes it was still 4-2. Then the miracle happened. There were so many turning points. Our first goal before half-time was important. It's my first 7-5. It was a tennis score."Despite his pride, Wenger still offered some consolation to McDermott: "I know how it feels to lose a 4-0 lead - it happened to me at Newcastle. I always hoped we could come back. It's strange to explain. At 4-0 you think you have won the game, but at 4-2 the panic starts to set in."At 4-0 I didn't feel great, I started to think about half-time. Inspiration was not difficult. I just felt sorry for the fans, they stuck with us. A big part stayed and supported us and I give them credit. I give the ones who left less credit."This was maybe my greatest comeback. [The League Cup] is not my priority but had we gone out like we could have gone out it would not have been one of my proudest nights."
Meanwhile, Reading bossBrian McDermott said that the defeat was the worst of his career. "It was kamikaze football. It was extraordinary," he said. "It's the worst defeat of my career. It is embarrassing but we have to take it on the chin and move on. It's hard to take positives but we have to." He did, however, criticise refereeKevin Friend after Walcott's 96th-minute goal, despite only four minutes of stoppage time being awarded. "Obviously it doesn't help that the referee added two minutes on to the four minutes of injury time to make it six. You can't tell the time as wrong as that, but he did." The turning point, in his eyes, was the Walcott goal just before half-time. "I wasn't comfortable at 4-1. I don't know why, I just wasn't. We had to go in at 4-0. That gave them impetus they didn't need. It was suicide what went on in that second half and extra time.""At full-time nothing needed to be said to the players. Sometimes the less said the better. We know what happened."[19]
The result did not, as hoped, have an immediate effect on what had been an inconsistent start to the season forArsenal; in the next match, they were defeated by eventualPremier League championsManchester United 2–1 atOld Trafford. This sparked a run of just three wins in nine matches, before a three-match winning run culminated in another record-breaking match, Walcott netting another hat-trick in a 7–3 home win over Newcastle United, but at the turn of the year had failed to win over half of their league matches; however just five defeats after New Years Day saw them overhaulTottenham Hotspur and finish fourth in the league.[8][20] However, their League Cup campaign ended with a bitterly disappointing 3-2 penalty shootout defeat to fourth-divisionBradford City in the next round.[21]
Reading meanwhile continued their poor form, not winning a league game until November and just two before New Years, and just four more afterwards as they ultimately finished 19th, some 11 points off of safety.[22][20] They and Arsenal met twice more before the seasons end; the Gunners triumphed on both occasions, 5–2 at theMadejski in December, and 4–1 at theEmirates in March.[8] They have since faced each other twice more, in theFA Cup semi-final, and in the League Cup in 2016–17. Arsenal won on both occasions, extending their perfect record against the Royals to 14 matches.[7]
There were several records set in this match, including the following:
