FA Cup Review: Arsenal 0 - 1 Blackburn Rovers

Arsenal took on Blackburn Rovers in the fifth round of the FA Cup, at the decently packed yet quiet Emirates. Arsenal came in to the fixture a little wary, given the impending acid test against Bayern Munich in the coming week and armed with a fan with a book full of club chants and a lung full of air. Blackburn Rovers, one the only five clubs to have ever won the English Premier League, were optimistic of the chance to say the least. Currently languishing in the Championship, Rovers were eager to damage Arsenal’s only realistic chance at silverware. A more optimistic fan would talk about the Champions League, but that’s for another day. Rovers were the underdogs throughout, but edged it by a wafer thin margin.

Squads

Both squads were brimming with quality, even though Arsenal’s manager, Mr. Arsene Wenger, had whittled a few key pieces away in foresight. Theo Walcott, Santi Cazorla, Bacary Sagna, Jack Wilshere, Aaron Ramsey and Lukas Podolski were all left on the bench, with Tomas Rosicky getting the rare start, along with Francis Coquelin starting at right back.  Olivier Giroud started as the usual target man with Gervinho getting back in after the African Cup of Nations. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was in the squad too, with Wenger looking to add mettle to the attack. Vermaelen led the defense and the team after his return.

Blackburn looked a little complacent on the team sheet, after Rover’s manager Michael Appleton decided to rest the veteran Danny Murphy. Also, Blackburn are yet to concede a goal in this season’s FA Cup.

The Olsson twins were included, looking to add a little bit of trivia to the fixture. Also contributing to the trivia was the Rover’s man in-charge, having managed three FA Cup sides in a single year, after his stint with Portsmouth and Blackpool in 2012. David Bentley, a familiar face for many who follow the Premier League, was on the bench, along with the Portuguese forward Nuno Gomes. Missing was DJ Campbell, on loan from Queens Park Rangers, and thus, cup-tied.

Game Review

Starting low on tempo, both teams kept pacing about the field, trying to find in-roads. Arsenal characteristically held on to most of the possession, managing over 70 per cent for most of the first half. Mikael Arteta was calling the shots in the midfield, releasing Chamberlain and Gervinho intermittently. Creativity took a clear hit after Cazorla was left out, and Diaby struggled to string more than a couple of passes. Gervinho was consistent in his inability to add value, and missed the only clear chance Arsenal had in the first half, fluffing a one-on-one with the keeper. Kean made himself big enough and Gervinho saw his shot miss the post by a yard.

Blackburn were happy to defend, clearing their lines effectively, and making the occasional foray up. Pedersen lifted one up for Dann with a clear shot, but he could only put it wide. Appleton seemed pretty satisfied with a nil-nil scoreline at half time.

Come second half, Arsenal kept pushing but order seemed to have been restored when Rovers increased the possession percentage to a more respectable 40. Neither team looked likely to score for periods, but Arsenal’s shots steadily increased, with Gervinho looking quite clueless for most parts. A shimmy by Rosicky made some space to the left of the Blackburn goal, and a quick pull on the trigger let loose a brilliant attempt which met the crossbar.

At the 70 minute mark, Wenger wanted a result and quickly introduced Walcott, Wilshere and Cazorla. But what ensued was certainly not what the home team had hoped for. Martin Olsson took a shot which Szczesny jabbed away, which found a wandering Colin Kazim-Richards, who hit his shot in to the ground, and gratefully saw it bounce off the post and in to the net. Blackburn had drawn first blood and Arsenal had only 20 minutes to rectify it.

As expected, Arsenal went all out, and kept charging in. Walcott swivelled around the defense on a couple of occasions while Cazorla and Diaby were in charge of the delivery. Giroud looked lost, but at least Gervinho had been replaced. On one occasion, Walcott was brought down inside the box, but was wrongly ruled offside even before he met the ball. He rose again to meet a Monreal ball but Kean was alert enough to stop a certain goal, two minutes from time.

Finally, when the chips were down, a flurry of activity and a Giroud shot bounced off a defender to find Arteta, whose shot hit the side-netting. In the end, a sad day for Arsenal as they crash out of the FA, and a landmark day for Appleton, whose side will head in to the quarter-finals of the coveted FA Cup.