Reading can feel stifling pull of the drop

Arsenal 2 Reading 0:ONLY ALEXANDER Hleb knew what he was thinking when he turned and slapped Graeme Murty, the Reading captain, just before the hour of this Arsenal procession, to court a possible suspension from the English Football Association. Murty smarted, his eyes and cheeks burning, but Reading cannot find an outlet for their frustration.

These are precarious times for the Berkshire club. No goals in four matches, their confidence at rock bottom, they can feel the stifling pull of relegation. Form has deserted them at precisely the wrong moment. A siege mentality has developed.

The players were ordered to button their lips as they trooped out of the Emirates Stadium while the manager Steve Coppell's radical twist on team selection prompted only further introspection. Having been minded at the start of the week to change nine players from the appalling home loss to Fulham, he "mellowed it down" to a mere six, leaving out Nicky Shorey and Stephen Hunt entirely.

"If anything, I have a squad at the moment that is in on a medium. I haven't got too many peaks," said Coppell. "I could pick two teams and I'd be hard pressed to say which would be the better. I really wouldn't know what my strongest team is now. To a certain extent, that's disturbing."

Angst will deepen if Reading fail to get a result at Wigan Athletic on Saturday. Thereafter, they have Tottenham Hotspur at home and Derby County away. "Two wins and I would imagine we would be okay," said Coppell. "Anything less than that and you're probably looking at other teams to do you favours."

Coppell's man-management will be tested to the full in the countdown to Wigan, as he seeks to restore belief and wring extra degrees from his players, many of whom are treading listlessly. He is considering whether to recall the striker Leroy Lita from his loan spell at Charlton but he can do nothing to turn back the clock to the previous two transfer windows."It's my fault," said Coppell, when asked whether money should have been spent on strengthening the squad. "Maybe I should have done something at the end of the January window."

Coppell's team, set up to man-mark and contain, stopped playing when Emmanuel Adebayor scored his 27th goal of the season. They salvaged some pride with greater effort after the interval but Arsenal could still have won by a handful.

Arsene Wenger said that next season "started here" and he was cheered by Theo Walcott's best performance for the club. The manager will sit down with Gilberto Silva, who scored the second goal with the aid of a hefty deflection off Andre Bikey, to see whether he can be persuaded to stay for the final year of his contract.