A Step Too Far

Arsenal    2        Middlesbrough    0 

                          Giroud  27, 29

 

In his pre-match programme notes Arsene Wenger said that “the FA Cup is a long competition”, but in the space of three first half minutes yesterday afternoon his cup holding side had hurled one foot into the quarter final draw for the second year running.

Two goals from Olivier Giroud send Boro out

In a decisive 180 seconds the Arsenal manager watched in delight as striker Olivier Giroud scored twice to eliminate a plucky Middlesbrough side who had breached through Manchester City in the previous round and a sequel to that memorable upset never really looked on the cards.

Santi Cazorla ran the show in the midfield, never stopping, always probing for that killer pass to unlock the door. The Spanish magician was the major catalyst for Arsenal’s opener, a fluent move from the back on 27 minutes, in which all eleven red shirts touched the ball before Cazorla sipped the ball to Kieran Gibbs on the left and his first time cross was turned in by Giroud.

Before the visitors had time to draw breath in was two. Alexis Sanchez drifted in a low corner towards the near post where Giroud caught the Boro defence sleeping on the job stealing a march on them to turn his left foot volley home. 2-0. game over? As good as.

Middlesbrough didn’t have the same bite upfront like they did at City and once manager Aitor Karanka’s plan to contain the hosts had been blown out of the water there only looked like one outcome.

They battled hard just like a the Etihad, but with all due respect the likes of Cazorla, Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez have a little bit more quality to unpick a defence than Fernando and Fernandiho of Manchester City.

For Karanka there are still bigger fish to fry in what is a persistent Championship schedule, he now takes his side to Birmingham on Wednesday before a home fixture with Leeds next Saturday. Maybe this was in the back of his mind when he withdrew key players Patrick Bamford and Lee Tomlin after 54 minutes.

As the cliché goes “it’s time to focus on the league” where Boro are unlikely to stumble upon the same quality Arsenal demonstrated here, nevertheless a promotion campaign requires its own challenges. It’s a similar situation for Wenger’s side who resume their assault to reach the top four away at Crystal Palace next weekend before a first leg Champions League encounter with Monaco.

That will be a tie they are expected to come through, but even the most optimistic Arsenal fan would quickly run out of reasons to argue that Wenger’s side will win the Champions League altogether.

The FA Cup is a different story though and with Chelsea and City already gone, the Gunners will be favourites to regain their title. Wenger’s team selection yesterday certainly gave all the signs that they were in it to win it, with ten of his eleven starters having played at International level.

The hosts threatened from the off, their passing was slick, at times their movement was mesmerising. Boro had keeper Tomas Mejias to thank as he made two splendid saves the first to deny Cazorla the second to keep out Giroud.

Boro had defended well until Giroud’s quick double, they threatened briefly before recording their first shot on target but Albert Adomah’s shot was comfortably saved by Wojciech Szczęsny.

Arsenal could have had more in the second half if it wasn’t for Mejias who kept out Ozil’s shot before making impressive interventions to stop Sanchez’s header and Theo Walcott went one on one.

Boro’s first genuine effort didn’t come until the final few minutes when Kike’s header hit the post, as it proved a step too far for the Teessiders.