da apostaganha： Arsenal ended Lincoln City’s romantic FA Cup run this season with a ruthless performance at the Emirates on Saturday that cared little for anything but progress to the semi-finals of the competition.
da brwin： Theo Walcott, Olivier Giroud, Alexis Sanchez and Aaron Ramsey were all on target in a 5-0 win that ensured that a tough couple of weeks for the Gunners didn’t get much, much worse.
Arsene Wenger’s side are still in with a very good shout of significant silverware this season. Despite their season going off the rails in the Premier League and UEFA Champions League, an FA Cup win would be nothing to sniff at and now they are in the final four, lifting that trophy seems like a very achievable goal.
The non-league visitors gave a great account of themselves, especially in the first half and despite the heavy defeat can hold their heads high. In the end it felt very harsh as the Gunners racked up the goals at their expense.
Here are the FIVE images that summed up all the action at the Emirates…
A sharp intake of breath…
For one brief moment in the first half, it looked like Lincoln City may do the impossible and go ahead at the Emirates. There was a sharp intake of breath around the entire stadium as Nathan Arnold curled an effort at goal that Petr Cech had to be alert to save.
As the picture above shows, it was certainly an effort that worried Arsenal defenders.
For the the entire first half Lincoln City held their own despite being 88 places lower in the English pyramid set-up and this moment summed up those positive moments for Danny Cowley’s side.
Breakthrough
It wasn’t until deep into stoppage time at the end of the first half that Arsenal found the breakthrough and it came rather fortuitously indeed. Working well into the Lincoln box, the Gunners managed to find Theo Walcott in space whose shot took a massive deflection on its way into the net.
It was a bitter blow for Lincoln at the end of a half they were competitive in but showed there’s no room for romance at the top level of football.
There was more relief around the Emirates than any other emotion and that goes for the players too. Everyone must have been worried Lincoln were making themselves a bit too comfortable in the match.
Game over
Olivier Giroud ended Lincoln’s hope of an equaliser with Arsenal’s second goal just 8 minutes after the restart. Arsene Wenger obviously had a word with his team at half-time because the Gunners came out with renewed purpose and determination, swamping Lincoln City for large spells of the second half.
By the time Giroud’s effort went in it was effectively game over and the evening would only continue to get worse for the non-league outfit.
Harsh lessons
When Kieran Gibbs’ cross found its way into the Lincoln net via Luke Waterfall, the evening was just becoming cruel for Danny Cowley’s team. They didn’t deserve being on the end of a thumping defeat but by this point Arsenal were showing no mercy and looking to take their frustrations of the last few weeks out on their visitors.
This third goal seemed to finally break the resolve of the Imps and they would ultimately concede two more goals before the 90 minutes were up.
Relentlessly restless
Despite the dominant win there were again pockets of the Arsenal support protesting against Arsene Wenger’s management of the club both inside and outside of the stadium. It’s going to be an underlying current to every Arsenal match from now until the end of the season you feel, or at least until the Frenchman’s contract situation is sorted out.
Whether it directly effects performances remains to be seen but what’s sure is that right now, Wenger needs to keep winning or these small pockets of dissent will just continue to grow and grow.