Arsenal struggled to live up to their billing as Premier League leaders as they made hard work of League One’s Oxford in the FA Cup third round on Monday.
The Gunners were lifeless for the first hour of the game but finally flexed their quality as a Mohamed Elneny header and a double from Eddie Nketiah saw Mikel Arteta’s side through to the fourth round with a scoreline that undeniably flattered their performance.
It was an even, albeit uninspiring start to the game, with the chants of ‘boring, boring Arsenal’ from the home fans summing up the early stages as the Gunners knocked fruitlessly on the Oxford door. Their first real opening came 16 minutes in as Takehiro Tomiyasu found some space down the right, but his low cross was easily cut out.
It took 24 minutes for the first shot on goal, a blocked effort from Oxford’s Cameron Brannagan, while Arsenal took a further ten minutes to register their first as Albert Sambi Lokonga’s strike was blocked by an arm. With no VAR at League One grounds like this, the game continued.
Arsenal dominated possession and were on top for the majority of the first half, but Oxford looked most dangerous on their rare forays forward, although neither side could manage a shot on target in an uneventful first 45.
Oxford had a glimpse of goal just a few minutes into the second half as Matty Taylor beat the offside trap to get through one-on-one, but he couldn’t get the ball under control and Matt Turner snuffed out the danger.
Completely out of nowhere, Arsenal took the lead 63 minutes in as a Fabio Vieira free-kick landed on the head of Elneny, who could hardly miss from six yards out.
With 20 minutes to go, Arsenal grabbed a second. Again, it was Vieira’s excellent ball which played through Nketiah, who rounded the goalkeeper and tapped into an empty net.
Nketiah chipped home a delightful third just a few moments later after a nice through-ball from Gabriel Martinelli, with Arsenal’s quality starting to show as the clock ticked on.
Oxford did their best to grab the consolation goal they undoubtedly deserved, but just couldn’t find a way through as Arsenal steered their way into the fourth round.
Arsenal’s reward for this win? A meeting with Manchester City.
GK: Edward McGinty (5); RB: Djavan Anderson (7); CB: Elliott Moore (6); CB: Sam Long (6); LB: Ciaron Brown (6); CM: Lewis Bate (6); CM: Marcus McGuane (7); CM: Cameron Brannagan (6); RW: Billy Bodin (6); ST: Matty Taylor (5); LW: Josh Murphy (6).
Substitutes: Yanic Wildschut (6), Tyler Goodrham (6), Gatlin O’Donkor (6), Josh Johnson (N/A), Brandon Fleming (N/A).
GK: Matt Turner – 6/10 – Looked a bit nervy whenever he got the ball but generally didn’t do anything wrong.
RB: Takehiro Tomiyasu – 4/10 – Can’t fault his work rate but every time Tomiyasu got into the final third, he wasted the ball. Some shocking passing.
CB: Rob Holding – 5/10 – Felt like he lacked composure. Some long punts forwards without any real target.
CB: Gabriel – 5/10 – A bit slow with the ball at his feet. Declined to try find Nketiah and stretch play on more than one occasion.
LB: Kieran Tierney – 3/10 – Chucked in crosses without even thinking where the ball would end up. Really, really wasteful.
DM: Mohamed Elneny – 6/10 – Really negative passing as he failed to link the lines. At least took his goal well.
DM: Albert Sambi Lokonga – 4/10 – A bright start which faded very quickly. Slow play and poor passing. Hooked on the hour mark.
RM: Bukayo Saka – 5/10 – You can tell Arsenal were off it because Saka looked ordinary. Struggled with the lack of link with Tomiyasu but didn’t do enough individually either. Limped off with 15 minutes to go.
AM: Fabio Vieira – 7/10 – Quiet for the most part but two moments of quality to decide the game for Arsenal.
LM: Gabriel Martinelli – 5/10 – Didn’t enjoy his individual battle and didn’t always come out on top. A nice assist for Nketiah’s second.
ST: Eddie Nketiah – 7/10 – Largely starved of service but finally rewarded for his smart movement as he netted twice.
Substitutes
Oleksandr Zinchenko (61′ for Tierney) – 7/10 – Flipped the game on its head with his high tempo and composure on the ball.
Granit Xhaka (61′ for Lokonga) – 7/10 – Similarly provided the composure you’d expect from an Arsenal midfielder. Made such a huge impact.
Emile Smith Rowe (75′ for Saka) – 6/10 – Not particularly lively but just nice to see him in action again.
Ben White (81′ for Tomiyasu) – N/A
Marquinhos (81′ for Vieira) -N/A
Manager
Mikel Arteta – 6/10 – Tried his best to rest most of his big names but Arsenal’s reserves were far below standard. Had to change things on the hour mark and, to Arteta’s credit, the goals came soon after.
Player of the match – Eddie Nketiah (Arsenal)
Credit: 90min.com
