If Mustafi had scored for Arsenal with his header after a late flurry of possession and corners in the first half, Man United could not have complained, but as it was, the visitors went in 2-1 up. Despite the Gunners starting well and dominating it was United that took the lead and it just had to be through Alexis Sanchez didn’t it?
Until that well taken 31st minute goal the Chilean had little joy against Maitland-Niles, but he made no mistake when latching onto a threaded pass from Lukaku. It soon got worse as Lukaku again provided the killer ball, this time for Lingard to slot the ball past Cech from close range.
I have to give credit to our players for digging in and, to be fair, we did not deserve to be two down, if anything. Aubameyang did get the Gunners on the scoresheet after 43 minutes, Iwobi and Ramsey doing great work on the left, and it was no more than we deserved.
Losing Sokratis to injury and with United looking sharp on the counter, however, Arsenal had it all to do to stay in the FA cup.
It was not to be our night, though. We played okay but the cutting edge was not quite there, while United made full use of their opportunities. Arsenal had to press, despite the bad luck of losing both centre backs when Koscielny caught an accidental boot.
Ozil coming on saw Arsenal play some intricate, dangerous and probing football but there they were hard to break down and there was always the risk of a breakaway and that is exactly what happened in the 83rd minute. Cech saved but not too well and Martial had an open goal to tap into.
10 minutes of extra time but I think our legs had gone a bit and Emery had no options from the bench because of the injuries. Performance-wise it was alright but the harsh fact is that Arsenal are knocked out of the FA cup at home by Man United and we are not happy.
Bob.