Capital One 2012-13: Arsenal come back from 0-4 to beat Reading

Arsenal won their Capital One Cup fixture last night against Reading in a 12-goal thriller at the Madejski Stadium.

It was one of the most stunning games in the two team’s history that saw Arsenal recover from a 0-4 deficit to beat Reading 7-5.

The game started with Reading going hammer and tongs at an Arsenal side that saw 11 changes. By the 37th minute in the first half Reading was a whopping 4-0 up. Theo Walcott managed to pull one goal back at half time.

It was a hysterical away crowd at that stage as Reading seemed to have taken full control of the match at the halfway stage; they led a Champions League side 4-1 and a place in the quarter-finals looked certain.

Wenger must have had some inspiring talk with his players in the break as the Gunners came out all guns blazing and it was Theo Walcott who inspired his mates to give it their all.

2-4 down in the 89th minute, Arsenal were staring down the wrong end of the barrel. A Koscielny header made it 4-3 to raise the Gunners’ hope.

Then in the final minute of the injury time, Theo Walcott scored his second goal, making it 4-4 and forced the game into extra time.

Having tasted blood, Arsenal never looked back. Chamakh, who started his first game since January for Arsenal, scored his first goal and gave them a 5-4 lead.

In the 116th minute Pogrebnyak got Reading on level terms making it 5-5. With fatigue setting in the game looked like it was heading for penalties. Not quite.

It was then in injury time of extra time that Chamakh added his second and Walcott completed a well-deserved hat-trick sending Arsenal into the next round of the Cup 5-7.

Wenger told Sky Sports, “You always see new things in our game. That is why it is never boring. It finished well for us but Reading made a fantastic start. We were not sharp, beaten in every single one-against-one and it was 4-0.

He added, “It could have been one or two more. After that, I believe, in the second half, we came back after 4-1. We created chance after chance and it was 4-2 but, at 89 minutes, we still needed to score two goals. The miracle happened. In extra time, we were always in front.”