The Gunners were back to firing on all cylinders on Tuesday evening as they beat Hull City 4-0 at the KC Stadium, extending their undefeated run in the Emirates FA Cup, which now stretches back to the 2013/14 season.
A slow start saw the scoreline remain goalless for a large part of the first half until a mistake from David Meyler in the 41st minute was pounced on by Olivier Giroud, as he recorded the first goal of the game with a slotted finish under the Hull goalkeeper.
In the second half, the FA Cup holders ensured there would be no slip-ups, as Giroud went on to net another goal, and after a poor performance, captain Theo Walcott still managed to get himself on the scoresheet with a brace in the remaining 15 minutes of the game.
Arsenal will now go on to face Watford in the quarter-final on Sunday afternoon at the Emirates Stadium, with a win meaning they’ll take a short trip across London to Wembley Stadium for the third season in a row, to play their 7th game there in only three seasons, undefeated in them all.
Here’s what we learnt from the Gunners’ crushing victory over the Tigers.
The injury crisis deepens
The game went almost perfect on Tuesday night, there were no slip-ups, Arsenal qualify for the quarter final again, the scoreline was an emphatic one, some of the younger players got a good run out, and a clean sheet was kept, but there had to be something that went wrong for Arsenal.
The usual injury crisis had rolled around for the second time this season, with Per Mertesacker the first of the three players that were forced off against Hull. The German defender took a blow to the head meaning he had to depart early on, before Gabriel’s night ended with a muscular injury in the second half, who was replaced by Aaron Ramsey who lasted only a small fraction of the game before he then departed early due to injury.
With a huge end to the season coming up, pushing for the Premier League title, an FA Cup quarter final, and a huge game in the UEFA Champions League against Barcelona next week away from home, the injury crisis has once again returned right at the wrong time for the Gunners.
They’re seriously tight at the back now with Laurent Koscielny already out, and with Gabriel and Mertesacker both getting injured, Arsenal are left with next to nothing. Mertesacker should be okay to continue at the weekend after only a cut, but as for the others, it’s probably best to expect Calum Chambers to line up against the German for the next couple of games, including the trip to Camp Nou.
Arsenal break their winless run
Arsenal have struggled recently, in all competitions. Drawing with Hull in the fifth round of the FA Cup, losing to Barcelona at home in the Champions League last 16, and losing to a severely weakened Manchester United team in the Premier League, the north London side needed a win like Tuesday night’s to get them back on track and get the team’s mentality positive again.
They have so many crucial games coming up, especially in the Premier League where they really need to win as many games as possible to win the league with Leicester City and rivals Tottenham doing so well, meaning tonight’s win was important, it allowed them to get back to winning ways.
A good run out for the young guns
Again, Alex Iwobi featured for Arsenal. The Nigerian attacking midfielder played in the Mesut Özil role as the German sat on the bench and would have admired his younger teammates contribution to the game.
He’s like a bright light for Arsenal, and very refreshing to watch. He’s strong on the ball and has a superb passing accuracy. His distribution of the ball in the middle is great, as he created a number of chances on the night, and certainly showed he can compete at a top level.
Jeff Reine-Adelaide came on for the injured Aaron Ramsey, he wasn’t really on the pitch long enough to make any impact but personally for the youngster, it would have been a great experience for him to get some first-team minutes for just the second time.
Arsenal have opportunity to make it three in a row
Arsenal have won England’s most prestigious competition for the last two seasons, making it a record number of wins with 12 FA Cup wins to their name. Arsene Wenger also holds the joint record number of FA Cup wins as a manager with six, and he’ll certainly be looking to make that seven this May.
The Gunners are a home win against Watford away from another trip to Wembley, for another semi final. They’ve visited the home of football six times in the last three seasons, coming out on top on all occasions, winning themselves two FA Cup’s and two Community Sheild’s.
But can they do it all over again this season? Up next, Watford.
Key Performers
There were a string of key performances from the Arsenal team on the night. Olivier Giroud certainly being one for popping up with two goals after a small drought, but the entire team deserved praise after a very successful performance, especially the makeshift back four that rotated throughout the game after coping well with the number of injures suffered.