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MOTD: Arsenal 2-0 Middlesbrough

By on February 15, 2015

Arsenal can almost touch another trophy. Heading into the FA Cup Sixth Round — the quarterfinals — the only Premier League sides remaining in the competition are West Bromwich Albion, Liverpool, relegation-threatened Aston Villa, and most likely Manchester United. With luck, The Gunners could retain their trophy and only have to beat one of those teams.

Yet Arsenal never seem to get that lucky in cup competitions. Indeed, they have drawn two Championship teams and a Premier league side in Hull City so far in their FA Cup run. Middlesbrough, in fact, was deemed a relatively tough draw for the club, having set alight the Championship recently with five straight league victories. All the same, Arsenal blew them off the pitch. Their visitors were held to just one shot on target while Arsenal saw nearly 70% of the ball. And most importantly, Arsenal got the result as well.

Santi Cazorla spearheaded Arsenal’s creative force, and with the finishing of Olivier Giroud, Arsenal completely outclassed Middlesbrough; even the 2-0 scoreline fails to do justice to the extent of Arsenal’s superiority on the day. If Arsene Wenger’s men hadn’t taken the foot off the gas in the second half this could easily have become a rout. With their dream attacking-midfield triplet of Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil, and Danny Welbeck, Arsenal weren’t gifted their way into the quarterfinals but earned it. On this form, it looks as if only United or Liverpool could keep the cup out of their hands.  Arsenal will be the team to fear.

Especially in the first half, Middlesbrough defended with two banks of four, but as Ozil and Cazorla floated around the midfield with free will they often found themselves popping up in random places completely unmarked.  While Mathieu Flamini rooted Arsenal’s midfield, Welbeck, Sanchez, and Giroud also floated around the pitch causing general chaos among Middlesbrough’s defense, who were also sourly outnumbered in the midfield.

From the opening whistle Arsenal penned Middlesbrough back, and while the visitors often attempted to block Arsenal from switching the ball one touch from Cazorla or Ozil was often enough to get Arsenal out from a corner. Just three minutes in, Cazorla swung a beautiful twenty-five yard free-kick over the wall forcing Tomas Mejias into a good save down low to his left. Middlesbrough struggled to get out of their own half and looked panicked on the ball, and fourteen minute in Giroud again tested Mejias with a low twenty-five yard curler; the goalkeeper actually pushed it right into the path of Sanchez but at a right angle the Chilean only found the side netting.

Then, in the space of just two minutes, Arsenal effectively won the match. In the twenty-seventh minute Cazorla threaded and incredible through ball in down the left side of the box to pick out the completely unmarked Keiran Gibbs, whose low, first-time cross was flicked into the back of the net by Giroud. It was a stunning goal, yet even before The Emirates could grow tired cheering from it Giroud found the back of the net again. Middlesbrough had momentarily fallen to pieces, and Giroud capitalized on their sleeping defense by flicking an quickly taken corner past Mejias.

While The Gunners pressured for the remainder of the first half, they turned to result-assurance mode in the second, sitting back and inviting Middlesbrough to push forward for the first time in the match — Aitor Karanka’s men had ended the first half with just one shot. And while Kike hit the post with a header in stoppage time, Arsenal still had better and more frequent chances on the break, with Cazorla firing just over the crossbar late on and Welbeck, Gibbs, and Sanchez tested Mejias further.
Man of the Match: Santi Cazorla

Photo credit: Ronnie Macdonald on Flickr

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.