A well-deserved victory against Bournemouth in the fourth round of the Emirates FA Cup has secured us a place in the next stage. The late night tie was our first against them in the competition.
Eddie Nketiah, Joe Wilock, Gabriel Martinelli are some of the youngsters that featured in the away fixture overseen by Martin Atkinson.
Arsenal got on to a good start by getting a goal as early as possible. Before that opener, we saw nothing so catchy except for a session of well constructed passes.
That opener was reward for good composure from the boys and also Mikel Arteta's faith in the youth players. Three youngsters took charge of the last few touches that gave the goal in the fifth minute.
Willock rolled Gosling, fed Gabriel Martinelli who in turn sent it off to Saka. The Nigerian whipped a fierce one to the net's roof. 22 passes involving all 10 outfield players were made in the buildup to the goal.
We continued to dominate play with Willock almost getting us the second. The Englishman was at it again when he found Saka. The latter passed to Nketiak who tried one and it went in.
However, it seemed Martinelli was offside so a VAR check was done. It was actually a goal. 2-0! Arsenal continued with the impressive display though towards the end of the first half, the hosts began to gain some balls.
Bournemouth were able to curb us a bit. During this time, they managed a shot through Wilson but Emi was there to take care of that. At the break, we were at a two-goal advantage.
The next half was not as buoyant for us as the first. The Cherries staged a good fight, reducing our ball control while also making scary advances one of which led to a collision with between Emirates and Mustafi. The German was injured and had to be substituted for Rob Holding.
Saka came close to getting our third in the 88th minute after good work from Dani Ceballos but we were already done scoring for the day. Matteo Guendouzi blasted a chance over the bar too
Within the eight minutes of added time, Bournemouth scored one through Surridge to put us on high tension. At the end, we survived with a win that qualified us for the next round which will be against Portsmouth sometimes in March.
We will make a trip to Burnley in what will be our third consecutive away match on Sunday afternoon, then go on a two-week winter break before resuming action with Newcastle.
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