It was a beautiful night to be a gooner as Arsenal defeated Manchester '2Divers' 2-1 in an entertaining FA Cup QF match at Old Trafford. Gunners headed into this game on back of a dismal record of being winless at the Theatre of dreams since 2006. But they were determined to set things straight against their old nemesis. And they did that with some style.
Firstly Wenger made a surprising change by starting Welbeck in place of in-form Giroud but it was an indication of his intent for the game. Szczesny was in Goal as Ospina was rested.
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| Nacho celebrating his first goal in 2 years |
Both the teams started the game tense and scrappy. Sanchez forced De Gea into save within two minutes and later Fellaini set up Young but he shot over. Arsenal didn't had much of the ball but were tidy in possession. Then on 25th minute mark, there was some magical play from Ox which was enough to tee up Monreal for a close range near post finish to give Arsenal the lead. But it didn't lasted long as Rooney headed past Szczesny from cross supplied by 'Dive Maria' in 29th minute. Going into Halftime score remained 1-1 but Wenger's men were not happy with it as they were seemingly the better team in the 45 minutes of play.
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| Welbeck celebrating his goal against his former side |
First half was more neat and tidy with a booking each for both the teams as compared to the next half when 5 devils got booked out of which Di Maria was rightly sent off later. Manchester United started playing more dirty with Fellaini being the chief who fouled a million time throughout the game before finally picking a yellow on the hour mark. Meanwhile in that dirt, there was some stupid football and Goal. Valencia played a weak back pass to De Gea which Welbeck pounced on and slotted in after rounding off the keeper and he CELEBRATED. Arsenal kept on going forward with Santi and Sanchez forcing keeper in excellent saves before and after of Di Maria's Red card.
In the closing minutes of play, Adnan Januzaj fell on turf in the box without any significant contact from his marker Monreal. He asked for penalty but Michael Oliver gave him a yellow for Diving. There were 5 minutes of stoppage 'fast heart-beat' time but there was nothing dramatic or anything as close to it in that period. And Manchester United were knocked out of the FA Cup when Ref blew the Final whistle.
Their were good performances from the likes of Coquelin, Mertesacker, Monreal, Cazorla and Chamberlain but it was a collective effort by the team which will give them more belief and confidence going into big games this season. They have Monaco to visit next week where they face a daunting task of overturning 2 goal deficit. But before that, they play West Ham at Emirates this weekend in the league.
Its hard to single out Man of the Match but I will go for Coquelin who was as good as he's been lately. He was the reason for calm and composure in the defence which is very very vital in this kind of games. So, Coq.
*****
FA Cup Semifinal draw was made and Arsenal will play winner of Reading vs Bradford (held at replay). In the other clash, Aston Villa will face the winner of Liverpool vs Blackburn Rovers.
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