Arsenal brush Middlesbrough aside as they progess to the FA Cup Quarter Finals

Arsenal were comfortable in victory as an Olivier Giroud brace knocked Aitor Karanka’s Middlesbrough out of the FA Cup.

Arsenal looked positive and confident from the first whistle, Santi Cazorla testing former Real Madrid goalkeeper Mejias in the opening five minutes with a low strike.

Arsenal controlled possession in the early stages of the game but didn’t have any clear cut chances until French striker Olivier Giroud broke the deadlock on 26 minutes. Cazorla with an excellent pass to Kieran Gibbs who made a darting run on the left hand side. Patrick Bamford didn’t track Gibbs’ run and the full back slid the ball across for Giroud to tap in.

Just 2 minutes and 14 seconds later things got worse for Karanka’s side with Giroud grabbing Arsenal’s 240th competitive goal against Middlesbrough. The Championship side’s defence were all at sea and terribly disorganised as a Sanchez corner was met by the boot of Giroud, a deliciously brilliant volley bringing the Gunners closer to the Quarter Finals.

Arsenal looked very much in the mood and the Middlesbrough fan’s must have been fearing that they could be on the wrong end of a rout, the Championship side barely getting out of their own half in the opening 30 minutes.

On 34 minutes Middlesbrough finally came close to creating an opening for themselves, the ball finding it’s way to the feat of Spanish forward Kike Martinez in a dangerous position but he was unable to get a shot away. Despite this, Middlesbrough looked very nervous and who can blame them with Özil, Sanchez, Cazorla and Giroud looking red hot for Arsenal.

With 35 minutes on the clock, Arsenal were agonisingly close to a third goal. Alexis Sanchez made a gut busting run to get to the through ball by Cazorla and he dinked the ball over Mejias but it was cleared by Tottenham loanee Ryan Fredericks.

With just a minute till half time, Danny Welbeck took a tumble in the box under pressure from a crowd of Middlesbrough defenders but the referee waved away Welbeck’s claims for a penalty. It would have been an extremely soft penalty if it had been given.

As the half time whistle went Aitor Karanka must have felt like his whole game plan had been completely undone. Grant Leadbitter and Adam Clayton were not getting tight enough to Cazorla and Özil allowing them plenty of freedom in the middle of the park. Arsene Wenger on the other hand would have been delighted with his players. They were putting on a show with some very slick passing play.

Arsenal were very keen to pick up from where they left off in the second half, Alexis Sanchez having an early shot but ballooning it way over the cross bar and into the top tier of the Emirates Stadium. Mesut Özil also darted into the box just a couple of minutes later and tested Mejias with a palm stinging shot.

Boro boss Aitor Karanka was far from happy with his team’s performance and took immediate action, surprisingly substituting Lee Tomlin and Patrick Bamford very early on in the second period.

It seemed to have done the trick though as substitute Adam Reach made a powerful run forward and may have had a good chance if it wasn’t for a cynical foul from Arsenal debutant Gabriel which was worthy of a yellow card.

However, this short spell of Middlesbrough pressure didn’t seem to affect a professional Arsenal much. An Alexis Sanchez header produced a world class save from Mejias in the Boro goal to keep the score respectable.

Arsenal were keen to rest a few players late on in the games with Giroud being one of the players making way, however the French forward looked a bit miffed that he was being denied the chance of a hat trick. Giroud has now scored seven goals and assisted four more in his 11 FA Cup appearances for the Gunners.

Boro had a couple of late chances to make the final few minutes a bit more interesting. Albert Adomah cut inside and hit a venomous strike that wasn’t far wide of Wojciech Szczesny’s goal. However, the better opportunity fell to Kike Martinez who beat Gabriel in the air but the woodwork denied him a goal at the Emirates.

Middlesbrough were no match for a classy Arsenal side despite a valiant effort from the Championship promotion chasers. They will know focus on their aspirations to get back into the promise land of the Premier League.


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