London: Arsenal scored three times in eight second-half minutes on Sunday to recover a 2-0 deficit and reach the fifth round of the FA Cup with a 3-2 win over Aston Villa, keeping their attempt to end a seven-year trophy drought on track.
Villa led 2-0 at half-time through goals by Richard Dunne and Darren Bent, prompting near silence from the home fans for long periods. But a revitalized Arsenal side got back in the game through Robin van Persie's 54th-minute penalty, equalized through Theo Walcott's lucky rebound and took the lead in the 61st through a second spot-kick from Van Persie.
Having avoided a fourth straight defeat, the Gunners are now just three games away from a Wembley final and will face the winner of a replay between Sunderland and Middlesbrough next month.
"We tried to keep focused and calm," Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said. "It is an opportunity but you could see today how hard the games are."
Arsenal won the last of their 10 FA Cups in 2005. They have not won a trophy since.
"We worked so hard," Van Persie said. "We are still in it."
Arsenal legend Thierry Henry missed a chance late on after coming on in the 89th for the third appearance of his loan from Major League Soccer's New York Red Bulls, but home fans could still cheer the result and the return from injury of France rightback Bacary Sagna.
Injuries mean Arsenal have been playing without specialist fullbacks since the start of December, but Sagna came on alongside Henry for his first appearance since October.
Villa's starting line-up contained three former players from Arsenal's fierce north London neighbours Tottenham.
One of them, on-loan Los Angeles Galaxy forward Robbie Keane, crossed for Dunne to head a 33rd-minute opener. Bent, who also played for Spurs, then scored in the 45th with a firmly hit shot from a tight angle after his initial effort had been blocked.
Arsenal looked to be in trouble but, without making any changes, manager Arsene Wenger revived his team at the interval.
"Sometimes we want so hard to attack that sometimes we forget to focus on our defensive task," Wenger said.
Dunne's late challenge on Van Persie gave the Netherlands striker the chance to send goalkeeper Shay Given the wrong way from the spot and Walcott created the opening for a 57th-minute equalizer with some fine control on the goalline to the right of goal.
But the England winger was lucky to score, with fullback Alan Hutton's attempted clearance smashing Walcott in the face and rebounding over the line from close range. Hutton was the third former Tottenham player to start for Villa.
"You need a bit of luck," Walcott said. "Hopefully that luck's changing."
That didn't prevent Walcott from celebrating effusively on the touchline and Van Persie put Arsenal in front moments later after the backtracking Bent brought down Laurent Koscielny with a sliding tackle from behind.
Middlesbrough and Sunderland will replay on February 7 for the right to face Arsenal after drawing their fourth-round match 1-1.
Second-tier Middlesbrough led against their local rivals when Barry Robson capitalized on some weak defending to smash a 16th-minute volley across goalkeeper Simon Mignolet and in at the far post.
Sunderland manager Martin O'Neill introduced striker Fraizer Campbell at half-time for his first appearance since August 2010 and the former Manchester United trainee stroked in a low shot 14 minutes later following a mistake by Robson.
Campbell had not played for the first team for 500 days because of knee injuries.
"I was delighted to be back out there," Campbell said. "You can't put it into words. It was a tough 18 months for myself, but days like this are what I've been waiting for and hopefully now I can stay injury-free and just do what I do."
Crawley Town, the lowest-ranked side left in this season's FA Cup, were handed a meeting with Premier League club Stoke in Sunday's fifth-round draw.
While third-tier side Stevenage will host eight-time champions Tottenham in the last-16, Crawley of League Two will host last season's beaten finalists on the weekend of February 18-19.
Liverpool's reward for a 2-1 fourth-round win over traditional rivals Manchester United is another home match, this time against a Brighton side that knocked out Premier League club Newcastle on Saturday.
Chelsea will host Birmingham, Norwich will host Leicester, Everton will play either Blackpool or Sheffield Wednesday, and Bolton will go to the winner of the replay between Millwall and Southampton.
Comments
0 comment