Arsenal battled past Championship side, Brighton, in the FA Cup today after a double from Olivier Giroud and a Theo Walcott goal saw them win 3-2 at the Amex Stadium.
Arsene Wenger made plenty of changes from the side that thrashed West Ham midweek with; Bacary Sagna, Thomas Vermaelen, Kieran Gibbs, Jack Wilshere, Santi Cazorla and Theo Walcott all dropping out of the starting eleven.
It was in fact the home side that looked like taking the lead and when Ashley Barnes was released through into the box, it took a superb save from goalkeeper, Wojeich Szczesny, to deny the Brighton attacker. What a big save it proved to be as well as straight from that, Arsenal counter attacked and scored the opening goal.
After the ball found it’s way into the Brighton area, it was Lukas Podolski who managed to control the ball. The German then flicked the ball back into the path of Olivier Giroud, who perfectly curled the ball into the top corner past goalkeeper, Casper Ankergren. A great goal from the Frenchman who is finding form at last for the London side. That was his third in two games. He later went on to score another as well.
Just before the half-hour mark, Brighton thought they had equalised, but the flag was up to deny Jose Ulloa a goal on his debut. Replays show that it was the correct decision.
However, just moments after that goal was disallowed, Brighton finally found their equaliser after Arsenal goalkeeper, Wojeich Szczesny, was left flapping at a cross and it was left for Ashley Barnes to head home, much to the delight of the home fans.
That goal was enough to see the Championship side go in on level terms with the Premier League outfit.
Arsenal came out the blocks pretty quickly like they have done in previous games and it was right-back, Carl Jenkinson who nearly restored Arsenal’s lead. After Tomas Rosicky was brought down, the referee rightfully played advantage and with Brighton players switching off, Jenkinson came rushing forward but only saw his thunderbolt saved by Ankergren.
It was then Lukas Podolski who came closer to giving Arsenal the lead. His goal-bound free-kick came firing back off the crossbar and luckily for the home side, they were then able to scramble the ball away, however they weren’t so lucky just a few moments later.
After a delightful ball from Abou Diaby, Olivier Giroud managed to bring the ball down perfectly before poking past the Brighton keeper to give the Premier League side the lead. Giroud netting his fourth goal in just two games.
If Arsenal’s attacking threat is deadly, then their defence is deadly too, but only deadly to them. Just six minutes later, a perfect cross from Ashley Barnes found debut-man, Ulloa, who managed to head past Szczesny. More questions will be asked about Arsenal’s defence as they were sound asleep for both of Brighton’s equalisers.
Arsene Wenger made it very clear that he didn’t want a replay and to make sure there wasn’t going to be a replay, he brought on big-guns, Jack Wilshere and Theo Walcott.
With six minutes left, it was contract-hero, Theo Walcott who popped up to score the winner and sent Arsenal through to the next round of the FA Cup. After a corner was poorly dealt with by the Championship side, Walcott volleyed the ball back goalwards and after taking a slight deflection, it found it’s way into the back of the net.
So after a very entertaining game it is Arsenal that will be advancing to the next round of the FA Cup and they owe a lot of thanks to star-performer, Olivier Giroud, who scored two sensational goals and also held the ball up superbly all game.
Alex William Batt
