Arsenal glimpse a Reyes of light

English FA Premiership/ Charlton Athletic 0 Arsenal 1: Jose Antonio Reyes' season has been a mirror image of Arsenal's. The Spaniard has been affected by injuries, looked short of self-belief and struggled to locate his best form. It seemed fitting, then, that the forward popped up with only his second league goal of the campaign yesterday to secure a much needed victory for Arsene Wenger's side.

It would be premature to talk of turning points for Arsenal when they only occasionally touched their most fluent, and were up against a troubled Charlton, who suffered after the 72nd-minute dismissal of Danny Murphy. But the result was always going to be of primary importance after three league defeats, and this will stem talk of a crisis, at least until Portsmouth visit Highbury tomorrow.

Arsenal deserved a rare away win, having created the better chances and defended grittily, with Kolo Toure and Sol Campbell impressive at centre-back. They would have enjoyed a contender for goal of the season had Charlton's dependable goalkeeper, Thomas Myhre, not denied Freddie Ljungberg at the end of a stunning, one-touch move. But most of their football was more prosaic.

There had been a broadly even first half as Charlton combined improved work-rate with some well-worked direct moves, but Arsenal had established the upper hand before the game turned with Reyes' close-range goal and Murphy's second yellow card.

That was rightly shown for dissent when the midfielder hurled the ball to the ground in anger at a free-kick award. He had earlier been booked for tripping Alexander Hleb.

"I have got no time for him getting himself sent off, especially at that stage of the game," said Alan Curbishley.

But Charlton's manager coupled that with strong criticisms of the referee, Steve Bennett, which will be scrutinised by the Football Association.

He advised the referee that, if he was "happy" with his performance, he should "look at it"; and he was furious that Bennett failed at least to book Cesc Fabregas for a late tackle on Gonzalo Sorondo, who soon hobbled off and will miss at least one match. The nearby linesman wrongly saw nothing amiss.

"My advice is forget dissent and people bouncing the ball and get real on the little professional stuff that goes on," Curbishley said, adding: "Perhaps he (Bennett) thought the game was about him today, but I can't hide behind that because Arsenal created more chances than us and deserved to win."

Good goalkeeping, the bar and a poor finish by Ljungberg hampered Arsenal. Wenger conceded his team became "nervy and edgy" without an early goal.

Ljungberg made some good runs but should have got his first league goal of the season when Reyes released him at the end of a breathtaking move down Arsenal's left. Given almost too much time, he failed to beat Myhre.

But he atoned with a pass to Thierry Henry that culminated in the winner. Henry saw efforts blocked by Sorondo and Myhre before the ball spun for Reyes to finish.

"I feel he will be a tremendous player," said Wenger, who admitted a lack of goals has played on Reyes' mind. "He's a confidence player because he plays a lot on the creative instinct, and that can only be expressed with a lot of confidence."

Charlton's belief is low after eight defeats in nine matches, but this marked an improvement, probably helped by a switch to 4-4-2, with Shaun Bartlett a useful partner for Darren Bent before the interval. Curbishley made six changes, giving four players their first league starts of the season, and his team's efforts were exemplified by Luke Young, who made two last-ditch blocks.

"Three big points," Wenger said. He needs it to be the start of many.

* Guardian Service