Full-time: Arsenal 2-0 Middlesbrough
It’s all over! The holders cruise into the quarter-finals thanks to this comfortable win over Middlesbrough, secured thanks to two first-half goals from Olivier Giroud. Thanks for reading and emailing. Bye.
90 min+3: Middlesbrough go agonisingly close to snatching a late consolation! Fredericks sends a cross to the far post from the right and Kike peels away from Gabriel and heads against the post from six yards out!
90 min: There will be three minutes of added time. Ormeruo is down for a moment or two after an awkward landing following an aerial challenge with Akpom, but he’s quickly up again.
89 min: Adomah drives inside from the right and lefts fly with his left foot, but it whooshes inches wide of the left post.
87 min: Another save from Mejias. Rosicky slices Middlesbrough open with a pass through to Walcott, whose low shot towards the far corner is pushed wide by Mejias. It was a bit of a tame finish by Walcott’s standards. He’s usually pretty emphatic in those situations.
86 min: Ozil cuts inside from the right and shoots. It’s straight at Mejias.
85 min: There are a couple of shirtless Middlesbrough fans in the crowd. How manly. Meanwhile Vossen has been booked for fouling Cazorla.
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83 min: Chuba Akpom is on, Olivier Giroud is off. No hat-trick for him.
81 min: Rosicky finds Ozil’s run on the left. He drives a cross into the area and Walcott clips a shot goalwards. Omeruo heads it away.
78 min: Luis Suarez has just scored an absurdly good volley for Barcelona.
76 min: Maybe Gabriel knew what he was doing. The Middlesbrough corner is cleared and Arsenal counter. Giroud plays it to Rosicky, whose cutback reaches Cazorla, whose shot flies over the bar from 20 yards.
75 min: Gabriel runs the ball behind for a Middlesbrough corner, screams at himself and then taps himself on the head. He’s a perfectionist.
74 min: “So arsenal are playing keep ball and grinding out the victory from a 2-0 place,” says Jezz Dresner. “Are arsenal a team with good grindability? I have not rated them so this season they seem to lack basic grindability in most games but is this one their grind?”
Not always, but they’ve been far too good for Middlesbrough today. Their focus has been spot on from the first whistle.
72 min: Arsenal bring on Tomas Rosicky for Alexis Sanchez and Theo Walcott for Danny Welbeck.
71 min: Sanchez plays a great one-two with Ozil and bursts into the area, but he delays his shot and Fredericks is able to get back and concede a corner, which comes to nothing.
70 min: Lionel Messi has scored another hat-trick for Barcelona in their game against Levante. Crisis over?
69 min: Leadbitter curls the free-kick into the area, but Arsenal head it away. There’s not much conviction when Middlesbrough attack.
68 min: Kike has his ankles clipped by Gibbs. Middlesbrough have a free-kick on the right. It’s probably too far out for a shot.
64 min: What a save from Mejias! Cazorla curls a free-kick into the area from the left and Sanchez glances a header towards the bottom-left corner, only for Mejias to turn it wide. Sanchez can’t believe he hasn’t scored.
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63 min: Sanchez. Giroud. Gibbs. Bang. Mejias tips the left-back’s shot over. From the corner, Giroud’s header loops into Mejias’s hands. “Simon MacMahon is obviously a Boro fan who could only make it down to the pub for the second half,” says Andrew Morrissey.
60 min: A lull. Arsenal are keeping the ball, biding their time.
58 min: “Football is indeed great, but you can have too much of a good thing,” says Simon McMahon. “I should know, I’m on my fifteenth pint.”
56 min: Grant Leadbitter takes the free-kick and clunks it straight into the wall.
55 min: Sanchez plays an awful cross-field pass straight to Reach, who charges at the Arsenal defence and ends up being sent flying through the air by an uncompromising challenge from Gabriel 30 yards from goal. The Arsenal debutant is booked.
54 min: Middlesbrough make two changes, Adam Reach and Jelle Vossen replacing Patrick Bamford and Lee Tomlin.
53 min: Sanchez finds Ozil. His touch takes him round Omeruo, but he shoots straight at Mejias, who beats the ball away.
52 min: Arsenal want a third. Chambers pokes a pass through to Welbeck but his touch forces him a tad wide and although he dinks the ball over Mejias, no one is on hand to turn it in.
50 min: Then again, Flamini did score this thunderbolt against Newcastle in 2008.
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49 min: Now Flamini shoots from 25 yards. However, he is Flamini.
48 min: Sanchez blooters one into the top tier from 25 yards.
47 min: Middlesbrough win a corner on the left. A chance to get a ball into the box. So instead they take it short and ... the ball ends up on the halfway line. Well done to all involved.
46 min: It’s time for more football. Football’s great, isn’t it?
Half-time: Arsenal 2-0 Middlesbrough
That was pure torture for Middlesbrough. It will be an achievement if Arsenal, who are in complete control thanks to Olivier Giroud’s double, mess this up from there.
45 min: Flamini’s shot 20 yards takes a deflection and loops up to Welbeck on the right of the area. He plucks it out of the sky and then lopes past Friend, but ends up shooting wide under pressure. He asks for a penalty, claiming he was caught as he shot, but he does not get one.
44 min: Middlesbrough can’t get the ball off Cazorla. He’s playing his own game, sometimes just turning round in a circle in order to hang on to possession, not even moving the ball from its initial position.
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42 min: Sanchez and Cazorla are having fun. The tricks and flicks are starting to come out, which could spell trouble for Middlesbrough.
39 min: Middlesbrough have their first shot. Adomah pops up on the right and runs at the backtracking Arsenal defence, before shooting low, hard and straight at Szczesny from 20 yards.
38 min: Cazorla’s free-kick is easily claimed by Mejias.
37 min: Omeruo concedes a free-kick on the left, clipping Welbeck’s heels needlessly.
34 min: Arsenal almost snatch a third goal on the break! Sanchez puts his foot on the gas as he tries to reach a through-ball and with Mejias committed, the ball ends up squirting towards goal off a Middlesbrough player as Sanchez makes a nuisance of himself. But Clayton hares back to hook the ball away before it crosses the line. There’s still hope for Middlesbrough. Sort of.
33 min: Bamford turns up for the first time in Arsenal’s half and tries to feed a pass through to Lee Tomlin, but the Middlesbrough winger can’t reach it.
GOAL! Arsenal 2-0 Middlesbrough (Giroud, 29 min)
Olivier Giroud does it again and this is looking like an uphill battle for Middlesbrough! Arsenal are in danger of running away with this - and what a superb goal this is. Middlesbrough were still chuntering over the award of a corner when Cazorla swung it to the near post from the left. Giroud ran away from his marker and although he was outside the post, he met it brilliantly on the volley, cracking an unstoppable left-footed volley past a stunned Mejias. Wonderful technique.
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GOAL! Arsenal 1-0 Middlesbrough (Giroud, 27 min)
This is an excellent goal and it’s all down to that telepathic link between Santi Cazorla and Kieran Gibbs. Welbeck laid the ball off to Cazorla on the edge of the area. It looked like he had nowhere to go given that he was surrounded by Middlesbrough players; instead he carved them open with a perceptive pass out to Gibbs on the left and his cutback was swept home with his left foot by Giroud from close range. It had been coming.
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26 min: Middlesbrough have their first attack since the beginning of time itself. Adomah’s cross from the left drifts out for a goal-kick. They’re finding it tough. And...
25 min: “I know Alan Green isn’t everyone’s cup of tea,” says Marie Meyer. “Nonetheless: I remember him once saying that a professional who takes a corner that fails to clear the first defender should be fined by their club and anyone who commits a foul throw should be docked a week’s wages.”
Would that technically have made Rory Delap the richest footballer in the world?
23 min: Adomah drops Middlesbrough in trouble with a slack pass that goes straight to Giroud in his own half. Giroud turns, ignores Welbeck, who’s in acres of space to his left, and curls a shot straight at Mejias from 25 yards. Adomah’s heart slides back down his throat and away from his mouth.
20 min: Bradford are still beating Sunderland 2-0. They’re going to win the FA Cup. It is written.
18 min: Ping. Ping. Ping. Middlesbrough are chasing shadows. But they breathe a sigh of relief when Giroud fails to get his pass through to Welbeck right.
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17 min: A foul throw from Calum Chambers. I mean really.
15 min: This has been a long 15 minutes for Middlesbrough.
14 min: This is all Arsenal. Giroud finds space on the edge of the area and curls one towards the left corner. Mejias pushes it away and Sanchez bashes the rebound into the side-netting from a tight angle. A goal is on the way.
13 min: Omeruo denies Sanchez with a fine challenge. Chambers whipped a cross into the area from the right and it found Welbeck, who took it in his stride and then backheeled the ball to Sanchez. He tried to bustle past Omeruo, but there was no way through.
11 min: The famous Cazorla-Gibbs combination almost clicks again. Cazorla pops another pass through to the left-back but Mejias smothers the danger, just when it seemed that Gibbs was about to have a shot. The pass just had too much on it. From there, Middlesbrough indulge themselves in their first attack. Fredericks drives a cross towards the near post, but Kike can’t shake off the strong Koscielny at the near post.
9 min: Arsenal fancy this. Cazorla darts through midfield and threads a lovely pass through the Middlesbrough defence and into the path of Gibbs. He fizzes an instant low cross into the six-yard box, seeking out Sanchez, but Mejias reads it and dives down to gather the ball. That was a slick move.
7 min: Arsenal are pressing hard here. Gibbs sticks a cross into the area from the left. Giroud and Sanchez both threaten, but Middlesbrough keep the pair of them at bay. Arsenal are looking good. For some reason. Not sure why.
6 min: Over on BT Sport, Michael Owen insights that “for some reason” it’s difficult for teams to win at Arsenal. Has anyone got any idea what that reason could be? I’m struggling here.
4 min: Giroud receives a pass around 30 yards from the Middlesbrough goal. Adam Clayton, who has one of those hipster beards, pulls him back and after deciding there was no advantage, Mike Dean awards Arsenal a free-kick. Santi Cazorla is interested. He’s very interested. He whips it through an unconvincing wall, low to Mejias’s left, and the Middlesbrough goalkeeper palms the ball wide for a corner. Which comes to nothing.
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3 min: Arsenal have started on the front foot. Middlesbrough haven’t seen much of the ball yet, not that Arsenal have troubled them too much yet.
And we’re off! Arsenal, kicking from left to right in the first half and decked out in their red and white shirts, get us going. Middlesbrough are in their navy away kits. Or are they black? I can’t tell.
Here come the teams! Soon: football. “If only these creative geniuses followed Bill Hicks’ advice,” says John Beaven.
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I can’t be the only person who finds the Vanarama advert utterly terrifying. Can I?
Bradford have just gone 2-0 up against Sunderland at Valley Parade. Earlier Aston Villa scored twice in one game. What a day. Arsenal beware.
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“So I guess all this talk of Alexis Sánchez “not being himself” or needing to be rested were just so much smokescreen?” says Robert Nease. “Was Wenger that worried about playing Boro he needed to play these mind games? Please, please, please give us your ‘hot take’!”
My hot take? Here goes nothing. It was interesting to hear Arsene Wenger say that Sanchez was in the dreaded red zone a couple of weeks ago. He’s played a lot. Let’s hope he hasn’t tired himself out, because it’s hard to think of too many games in which he hasn’t performed. I guess he’s the kind of player who wants to play in every game, though. It must be hard to tell him that he’s going to be rested - but there have been questions about the conditioning of Arsenal’s players.
“So then,Gabriel makes his debut,” says Charles Antaki. “To Arsenal supporters’ accustomed jitters about the defence - callowness, indecision, unfitness and positional uncertainty, we can finally add inability to communicate in a common language. But at least the new man looks absolutely terrifying, so perhaps that will have to do.”
I haven’t seen him play, but he arrives with a good reputation.
Andy Townsend is on BT Sport. Go on. Sadly there is no sign of a tactics truck.
That looks like an extremely attacking Arsenal team. Wojchiech Szczesny, who has spent the past few weeks smoking behind the bike sheds, returns in goal, Calum Chambers starts for the first time in a while and Gabriel Paulista makes his debut at centre-back, while Olivier Giroud will be supported in attack by Danny Welbeck, Mesut Ozil, Santi Cazorla and Alexis Sanchez, who’s back after injury. Mathieu Flamini might have too get through a lot of work in front of Arsenal’s back four. Middlesbrough, after all, are approaching this positively and have picked two strikers, with the promising on-loan Chelsea striker, Patrick Bamford, partnered by the dangerous Kike. This should be a good game.
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The teams
Arsenal: Szczesny; Chambers, Gabriel, Koscielny, Gibbs; Flamini; Welbeck, Cazorla, Ozil, Alexis; Giroud. Subs: Martinez, Mertesacker, Monreal, Rosicky, Walcott, Coquelin, Akpom.
Middlesbrough: Mejias; Fredericks, Omeruo, Gibson, Friend; Adomah, Leadbitter, Clayton, Tomlin; Kike, Bamford. Subs: Ripley, Nsue, Husband, Vossen, Reach, Whitehead, Woodgate.
Referee: Mike Dean.
Preamble
Not so long ago, Middlesbrough liked a Cup run. In the days of Juninho, Ravanelli and Phil Stamp, they reached the FA Cup final in 1997. But they lost to Chelsea. They also reached the final of the League Cup that year. But they lost to Leicester City after a replay and just to rub it in, they were relegated from the Premier League too. Two cup final defeats and a relegation, all in the space of a couple of months. You could have forgiven Middlesbrough if they had packed it in there and then.
But no. Bryan Robson got them back to Wembley a year later, beating Liverpool in the semi-final of the League Cup. But they lost to Chelsea in the final. Again. Bloody Chelsea. Always Chelsea.
The sizeable consolation was that Middlesbrough won instant promotion back into the Premier League. They floated around in mid-table for a couple of years, never really threatening much, and then Robson left, Steve McLaren arriving as his replacement in time for the start of the 2001-02 season.
For a while, not much happened. Middlesbrough continued to finish in mid-table. And then. And then! And then Middlesbrough got to the League Cup final in 2004, beating Bolton 2-1 thanks to goals from Joseph Desire Job and Boudewijn Zenden; then, after a series of spectacular late rescue acts, they somehow battled their way to the Uefa Cup final in 2006. The less said about that, though, the better. They lost 4-0 to Sevilla, McLaren left to replace Sven Goran Eriksson as England manager, Gareth Southgate took over and gave us the Afonso Alves years, and Middlesbrough were relegated in 2009.
They haven’t had much to shout about since then. Until now. Gordon Strachan and Tony Mowbrary failed to make an impression, but Middlesbrough have been on the rise since appointing Aitor Karanka in November 2013. Jose Mourinho’s former assistant at Real Madrid has had a stunning impact at The Riverside. Middlesbrough are second in the Championship, but they are level on points with first-placed Bournemouth and have a game in hand on Eddie Howe’s side, and they made the whole country sit up and take notice of them when they won 2-0 at Manchester City in the previous round of the FA Cup; the memory of that victory will give them confidence of causing a shock this afternoon. But I assume that Arsenal, the holders and more than capable of making life hellish for Championship opponents at home, will have other ideas.
Kick-off: 4pm in London, 4pm in Middlesbrough.
