Olivier Giroud scored two goals in as many minutes as holders Arsenal brushed aside Middlesbrough with a 2-0 victory in their FA Cup fifth round tie at the Emirates.
With Middlesbrough chasing promotion from the Championship this season and having knocked out Manchester City in the previous round, the Gunners knew they couldn't afford to be complacent.
Home advantage was a huge plus for Arsene Wenger's men and a mainly solid defensive performance restricted Boro to few opportunities, while Giroud's clinical finishing at the other end proved decisive and took his tally for the season to 10 goals in all competitions.
The French striker scored the first of his brace after 27 minutes when a fine pass from Santi Cazorla released Kieran Gibbs, who squared the ball for Giroud to score from close range. Giroud doubled his side's advantage soon after with a wonderful volley from Alexis Sanchez's corner. That took the 28-year-old's record to seven goals in just 11 games in the FA Cup.
Middlesbrough, who went into the game on the back of six consecutive wins, offered very little in response and it took them 39 minutes to register a shot on target. The returning Wojciech Szczesny, back in the starting line-up for the cup tie, comfortably saved Albert Adomah's effort.
Tomas Mejias made a string of excellent saves to deny the likes of Mesut Ozil and Theo Walcott to keep the score down but Aitor Karanka's men just couldn't offer enough at the other end to prevent the Gunners from sealing a rather simple passage into the quarter final.
Boro almost pulled a goal back late on but Kike's header hit a post and the visitors will now have to regroup and focus on ensuring they maintain their promotion push, in the hope of meeting Arsenal again next season in a Premier League encounter.
As for Arsenal, they looked very comfortable on the ball, disciplined in defence and quick in attack, although the Gunners should maybe have scored more of their chances.
Gabriel Paulista, who joined from Villarreal in the January transfer window, made his debut in defence. It is difficult to read too much into his first performance in an Arsenal shirt as he didn't really have too much to do so I am happy to reserve judgement until he has played more matches. To come out of his debut with a clean sheet is a decent start so let's see what happens when he comes up against sterner opposition in the Premier League.
The main thing was to secure passage into the last eight and Arsenal did just that and, looking at the teams left in, we have got to fancy our chances more than previous years. Liverpool are still in the competition, as are Manchester United if they get through their upcoming clash at Preston, but with no Chelsea, Manchester City or Tottenham our chances are certainly better than they could've been.
Whatever people think of the FA Cup, and I am not just saying this because we won it last year, I still think it is a wonderful competition filled with so much magic. It remains one of my favourite competitions so to stay in with a shout of winning it again feels me with a lot of joy so let's hope we can go all the way again.
The ideal scenario is for Manchester United to get knocked out and to avoid Liverpool in the quarter final draw. Obviously Manchester United seem likely to progress so if they get paired with Liverpool to ensure one is definitely knocked out in the last eight that would be a big help. I believe if we can get a home draw for the quarter final we can be more than a match for whoever we are drawn against, especially after securing a ninth win in a row at the Emirates. If I had to pick an opponent I would prefer Reading but anything can happen so let's just wait and see.
We have to play two more games before we can even start thinking about the final properly but you've got to be in it to win it and that we are. Dare I dream of more FA Cup glory? Que sera sera! Before we start dreaming about any further FA Cup tales we need to turn our focus to the trip to London rivals Crystal Palace in our next game.
COME ON YOU GUNNERS
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