Full time: Preston 1-2 Arsenal
Welbeck forces a flying save from Maxwell with a fierce 20-yard strike. Moments later the final whistle is blown. Arsenal are through after a bit of a scare. They were shocking in the first half but imposed their superior class in the second and continued Arsene Wenger’s immaculate record in the FA Cup third round: 21 ties, 21 wins. Thanks for your company, night.
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90+2 min Arsenal make a double substitution: Maitland-Niles and Lucas Perez are replaced by Rob Holding and Jeff Reine-Adelaide.
90 min There will be four minutes of added time. Preston look spent.
Mustafi drove a high, angled ball towards Giroud just inside the box. He headed the ball down to Lucas, who returned it with a majestic backheel on the run. Browne slid in to challenge and Giroud forced a close-range shot off him and past Maxwell.
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GOAL! Preston 1-2 Arsenal (Giroud 89)
Olivier Giroud puts Arsenal into the fourth round!
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87 min Preston enjoy a little bit of time in the Arsenal half. Horgan does well to beat Maitland-Niles but then overhits his cross towards the gigantic Makienok.
86 min Iwobi beats a couple of players on the edge of the box but his shot is too close to Maxwell and comfortably held.
83 min Danny Welbeck comes on to make his first appearance on the season, replacing Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Welbeck is one of the nice guys and I’m sure almost everyone will wish him well.
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81 min Another Preston substitution: Daryl Horgan, signed from Dundalk, comes on for his debut in place of Daniel Johnson.
80 min Arsenal have another corner, headed clear by Makienok, but Preston are struggling to get out. They have put in an admirable shift and are starting to tire.
77 min Giroud has a goal disallowed for offside. It was an accomplished close-range volley from Lucas’s pass. Giroud wags his finger knowingly and then shakes his head. Replays confirm he was miles offside.
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75 min Pearson is booked for tripping Xhaka. Preston then make another substitution, with darts fan Simon Makienok replacing the excellent Jordan Hugill.
Unplayable this guy. What a tournament @MvG180 🎯🥇🏆🍾 #WorldDartsChampionship
— Simon Makienok (@SimonMakienok) January 2, 2017
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72 min Oxlade-Chamberlain’s outswinging corner from the right is met at the near post by Mustafi, who flicks it smartly towards goal. Maxwell reacts well to push it up in the air and claim at the second attempt.
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70 min Gabriel is booked for clattering Hugill, delayed payback for the first-half incident.
69 min Preston are an admirably feisty bunch, led by the midfield irritant Pearson. He is penalised for a foul on the halfway line, which prompts the already irritated Simon Grayson to go into overdrive on the touchline.
66 min Xhaka dinks a free-kick into the area towards Giroud, who is having his shirt pulled by Cunningham. Then Cunningham puts his arms around his neck before heading the ball back to the keeper. Top music producer Mike Dean would have given at least three penalties there; today’s referee Bobby Madley did not.
65 min Cunningham is booked for crunching Lucas. He got the ball; I assume the referee thought he went through Lucas to get to it.
62 min Preston have restored some order to the game, though Arsenal are still having much more of the ball.
59 min The impressive and now injured Gallagher is replaced by Alan Browne.
58 min Xhaka, who has been really poor, gawps at a pass towards him from Monreal and is robbed by Robinson. Nothing comes of it, I just mentioned it to highlight what an absent-minded game Xhaka has had. It’s bullying, really.
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54 min Preston must be seriously regretting all those missed chances at 1-0, because there is a sense of inevitability about Arsenal winning this match now.
52 min Pearson fouls Ramsey twice in quick succession and is spoken to by the referee. Ramsey asks for Pearson to be booked, a regrettable habit he picked up from them foreigners.
51 min Preston look a bit shocked by the purpose and basic competence of Arsenal’s start to the second half.
48 min Arsenal have started like a team who were forcefed raw steak throughout half-time. Giroud has a shot blocked, as does Oxlade-Chamberlain a few seconds later.
47 min “Hi Rob,” says Alex Netherton. “Who do you think could be Arsenal’s knight in white satin armour?”
I’m in no mood, Alex.
GOAL! Preston 1-1 Arsenal (Ramsey 46)
That didn’t take long. Aaron Ramsey equalises 51 seconds into the second half. It was a superb strike, thrashed into the corner from the edge of the box after a pass from Iwobi.
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46 min Arsenal begin the second half, kicking from left to right.
Arsenal’s players are out early for the second half, quite possibly after a rare rollocking from Arsene Wenger.
Half time gum-flapping
“What odds Preston beating the FA Cup record of 26-0 scoreline which they achieved against Hyde in 1887?” says Peter Morrow.
Despite an admirable attempt from Mustafi and Gabriel, I’d say that bet is now off.
Half time: Preston 1-0 Arsenal
Preston deservedly lead against a sloppy, listless Arsenal. Indeed they should be two or three ahead. Arsene Wenger has never lost in the FA Cup third round; that might be about to change. See you in 10 minutes for the second half.
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45 min “Discussing past English defenders is really depressing,” says David Acaster. “Jones? Smalling? Stones? Jagielka? Cahill? Pallister and Bruce would walk into the England team and stay there for ten years. But when we get on to Campbell and Ferdinand, then Terry and Ferdinand, I weep.”
Yes, when you look at the mid-2000s England team, jeez. Had Rooney not been injured I think they’d have won Euro 2004 and maybe even the 2006 World Cup.
44 min Hugill jumps for a high ball and catches Gabriel with his arm, drawing a fair bit of blood near the left eye. It wasn’t deliberate, but it was dangerous and Hugill is booked.
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41 min “Credit to PNE for a great start but Xhaka and Ramsey are like two hotel doormen inviting Preston to run through them,” says Angus Macaskill. “And when Arsenal do have the ball they’re offering minimal movement and composure.”
I still don’t know what to make of Aaron Ramsey. He’s a question that has no correct answer.
40 min Robinson has a goal disallowed for a foul on Ospina by Huntington. There were no real complaints from Preston.
36 min Monreal clears off the line from Gallagher! He lobbed the ball over Ospina after a double mistake from Mustafi. Moments later, Maxwell makes a comfortable save from Ramsey’s header. Ramsey should have done better. At the other end, I’m not certain Gallagher’s lob was going in but Monreal took no chances.
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34 min Iwobi’s cute pass puts Giroud clear on the left side of the box. He tries to chip the outrushing Maxwell but gets too much on it and it drifts wide of the far post. Arsenal have stirred into action after that 15-minute brain nap.
33 min A superb first-time backflick from Giroud puts Ramsey clear in the box. He tries to walk the ball into the net and is eventually challenged. Lucas’s follow-up is blocked by the keeper Maxwell.
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33 min “The only basis on which it would be unfair to criticise the Arsenal back four,” says Charles Antaki, “is that every other player has been equally appalling.”
32 min Arsenal are having all kinds of trouble with routine runs down the channels from Hugill and Robinson. Another one of those eventually leads to a long-range shot from Johnson that drifts harmlessly wide.
30 min “You do recall that Howard Wilkinson had the same idea about playing the Arsenal back four/five when he managed England for one game in 1999 - albeit that he didn’t go full Gunner, starting Le Saux with Winterburn on the bench?” says Robert Lowery. “Unfortunately for him the Arsenal centre-forward Anelka had the measure of the defence. Looking back there are a fair few 90s England defenders whose limited recognition seems surprising in retrospect and in the era of the lauding of John Franz Stones and Phil Duncan Jones. Both Arsenal’s full backs, Bould & Keown, even Adams was in and out, Steve Bruce famously...”
Pallister’s England career was a travesty as well. Twenty-two caps!
27 min Arsenal’s performance in the last 10 minutes has verged on satire, and they really need to restore order before this gets messy. McGeady’s deep cross from the left drops over the head of Monreal, and Vermijl slices a volley wide from a tight angle. It was a difficult chance, but a chance nonetheless.
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25 min Pearson’s fierce long-range shot bounces awkwardly in front of Ospina, who spoons it behind for a corner. This is a great spell for Preston.
24 min Another great chance for Preston! Robinson breaks into his own postcode on the right-hand side of the box, aided by a pathetic attempt to play offside. He has Hugill waiting in front of an open goal, six yards out, but overhits his square pass and it flashes across the face of goal. Robinson should surely have done better there.
22 min Robinson almost makes it 2-0! Preston haven’t kept the ball but they are very efficient on the counter-attack. Robinson overhit his pass slightly to Hugill, who still managed to dink an excellent return pass towards the far post. Robinson planted a downhead header from six yards and it was blocked by Mustafi a few yards from goal. It hit him on the arm actually, though I’m not sure it was deliberate.
20 min Robinson springs down the left and is erroneously flagged offside. He was at least two yards on. “Wow!” says Steve McManaman on BT Sport. It was a bad decision for sure, but we’ve seen worse.
19 min Preston are struggling to keep the ball, which could make this a long night for them. They look comfortable defensively for the time being though.
15 min Arsenal’s passing has been decent enough so far, though they haven’t been able to get behind a very compact Preston defence. Lucas plays a one-two with Giroud and hits a deflected shot from 20 yards that is comfortably held by Maxwell.
12 min “Hawrite Rob!” says Ryan Dunne. “In other news, it’s all kicking off.”
That’s one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a very long time. Surely they need to do a jobswap for a day?
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10 min Preston are working so hard without the ball, then counter-attacking the moment they win it. All hail the gegenPreston.
The move started with a brilliant Zidane-style roulette from McGeady to beat Ramsey. He then played a sharp angled through pass towards Hugill, who was challenged by Monreal and Gabriel. The ball ricocheted across the box and Robinson was left with a simple finish from six yards.
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GOAL! Preston 1-0 Arsenal (Robinson 7)
Preston take the lead!
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3 min An early half-chance for Preston. Pearson wins the ball from the dithering Xhaka high up the field and gives it to Robinson, who makes a bit of room in the box before hitting a shot that is blocked by the sliding Gabriel.
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1 min Peep peep! Preston, in white, kick off from left to right. Arsenal are wearing yellow.
The players on both sides partake in the usual unhygienic handshake routine, and we’re almost ready to start.
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Another email! “Do you think Welbeck will ever have the career we once hoped he would?” asks David Acaster. “Clearly not able to score a goal in every two games to make himself a regular No9 at a club like Arsenal, and now entering an Andy Carroll-like twilight world of perpetual unfitness. (Bizarrely he has a decent record for England . . .?)”
I never thought he’d be that good. He’s such an admirable, selfless player with outstanding movement, so he’ll always be good enough for a big squad, but I think that was always going to be his limit. Federico Macheda, on the other hand…
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An email! “Wonderful to see some Arsenal defending from the previous century,” says Charles Antaki. “Within three seconds of the clip’s start, Lee Dixon has his arm up confidently for offside; a habit that seems to have utterly died out among the current back line. Mind you, he was wrong.”
That back four though. You do wonder whether England missed a trick by not playing them all together. It would have been a helluva call, to leave out greats like Stuart Pearce and Gary Neville, but at their best that defence pretty much abolished conceding goals.
Team news
Preston North End (4-4-2) Maxwell; Vermijl, Clarke, Huntington, Cunningham; Gallagher, Pearson, Johnson, McGeady; Hugill, Robinson.
Substitutes: Lindegaard, Spurr, Browne, Pringle, Horgan, Doyle, Makienok.
Arsenal (4-2-3-1) Ospina; Maitland-Niles, Mustafi, Gabriel, Monreal; Ramsey, Xhaka; Lucas, Iwobi, Oxlade-Chamberlain; Giroud.
Substitutes: Martinez, Jenkinson, Holding, Reine-Adelaide, Dasilva, Willock, Welbeck.
Referee Robert Madley.
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Preamble
Hello. It’s mildly shocking to relate that it’s 18 years since 1999.
Let me try that again: for those who remember the match so vividly, it’s mildly shocking to relate that it’s 18 years since Preston took part in a minor classic against the FA Cup holders Arsenal. Kurt Nogan scored two early goals – quite an achievement against a Back Four who conceded around a goal a month for the second half of the 1998-99 season - before Arsenal came back from 2-0 down to win 4-2 in their third-round match. Steps’ Heartbeat/Tragedy was top of the charts, having knocked Chocolate Salty Balls (PS I Love You) by Chef off its perch. America was six days away from making the acquaintance of Tony Soprano; those in England would have to wait six months.
Televisual alternatives to Monday-night FA Cup action included EastEnders (the synopsis says that “Emotions run high as residents of the Square struggle to come to terms with recent events”, which is the safest generic synopsis ever) and Watchdog Healthcheck (“Tonight’s edition features the latest research into the dangers of using mobile phones WAIT TILL SMARTPHONES COME ALONG AND TURN EVERYONE INTO A MORON, and the undiagnosed diabetics who could be cured simply with a change of diet. Plus the reason why Teletubbies dolls could soon be taken off the shelves of Swedish toy shops and a report from the RAF on why we should all be drinking much more water.”)
By that stage Arsene Wenger had won the first of his two doubles and the first of his six FA Cups. With the Premier League threatening to slip away and the Champions League as intimidating as ever, this might be Wenger’s best chance of another trophy this season. Simon Grayson’s Preston are a useful side and will hope to cause a shock, and on that offensively obvious statement, I’ll leave you until we have some team news.
Kick off is at 5.30pm.
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Rob will be here shortly. In the meantime you can test your knowledge of the world’s oldest cup competition with this quickfire quiz …
