Arsenal Road To 2013/14 Fa Cup Success

Arsenal Road To 2013/14 Fa Cup Success

Arsenal end their nine year trophy drought by beating Hull City in Final. The FA Cup was the last trophy the Gunners won in their Highbury days. It could be the first one at the Emirates and it could act as a springboard for further success.
Arsenal have had some emphatic performances in the competition this year and we take a look at how the Gunners reached the FA Cup final.

FA Cup 3rd round: Arsenal 2-0 Tottenham Hotspur  

It‘s Always been an Blockbuster contest between the two North London Derby.Previously Arsenal beat Totenham 2-1 at FA 2001.

This was Tim Sherwood’s first North London Derby as in-charge.

When Tottenham visited the Emirates for the cup game, Arsenal were at the top of the Premier League table; they showed it that night with an emphatic display.

Tim Sherwood’s team arrived with lot of confidence as they had won 2-1 against Manchester United at Old Trafford on New Year’s Eve. But it was Arsenal who had the last laugh as Santi Cazorla's strike in the first half and Tomas Rosicky's goal in the second sealed the game for the Gunners.

The highlight of the game was Theo Walcott’s banter with the Spurs fans.

4th round:Arsenal 4-0 Coventry City

After  beating their  North London rivals.Arsenal has a home tie against League One team Coventry City  in the 4th round of the FA Cup.

Podolski Scored a brace at the first half and two late goals from Giroud and Cazorla were enough for the Gunners to proceed to the next round. Alex  Oxlade-Chamberlain made his first start since the opening day of the  season vs Aston Villa.

Santi Cazorla and Olivier Giroud were dropped to the bench as  Nicklas Bendtner and  Lukas Podolski were preferred up front.

5th round: Arsenal 2-1 Liverpool 

After  thrashing Coventry in the competition, the Arsenal hosted Liverpool for the fifth round.

Arsenal were lucky not to concede in the opening minutes but they grew as the game progressed. The Gunners were looking solid with Arteta and Flamini guarding the back four from Liverpool’s attacking setup.

Arsenal took the lead via Oxlade-Chamberlain in the 16th minute and Podolski doubled the lead just after the half time. Gerrard scored from the spot after Podolski tackled Suarez from behind but Liverpool failed to get another goal as Arsenal cruised to the next round.

Quarter-final: Arsenal 4-1 Everton 

Arsenal set up their clash with Everton at quarter final after beating Liverpool.

 Mesut Ozil returned to the first team while Olivier Giroud was benched.Yaya Sonago Start ahead of Giroud. Ozil scored his first goal in three months before Lukaku scored just after half an hour. Then Mikel Arteta calmly scored from the spot against his former side while Giroud came on as a substitute and scored two goals in quick succession to seal the victory. Gunners were going to Wembley!

Semi-final: Arsenal 4-2 Wigan Athletic (Aet 1-1) 

Wigan Athletic who stunned Manchester City Set up a clash with Arsenal in the Semi Finals of FA Cup.

Arsenal dominated possession as expected but Wigan was good on counter attack. In the 59th minute, Jordi Gomez sidefooted it comfortably past Fabianski as Wigan took the lead. Then Mertesacker scored with less than 8 minutes to go for the full time and the game was on. Wigan  hung on while the Gunners failed to find a winner.The score remained 1-1 even after 30 minutes of extra time.

Gary Caldwell and Jack Collison missed Wigan's first two spot-kicks; Arsenal didn’t miss a single kick with Santi Cazorla scoring the winning penalty. Heartbreak for the holders while sheer joy  relief for the Gunners.

Arsenal now were just 90 minutes away from silverware.

Final :Arsenal 3-2 Hull City (AET)

Arsenal snatched victory from the jaws of defeat to win a record-equalling 11th FA Cup, as they beat Hull City 3-2 in an enthralling encounter at Wembley Stadium.

It had been 3,283 days since Arsenal last lifted silverware.

Hull city Scored 2 quick goals from James chester and Curtis Davies within ten minutes of the First half.Further Kieran Gibbs prevented Bruce for thre Third goal.Santi Cazorla super free-kick put the Gunners back into the game.The score remained 2-1 even after First half.Strangely  Yaya Sanogo was introduced in the place of Podolski.Laurent Koscielny Scored the equalizer with 19 minutes meaning. And then, after a string of chances, it was Sanogo's dart into the box that presented the ball to Olivier Giroud, who back-heeled it to Aaron Ramsey. The Wales midfielder jabbed the ball in at the near post and the game was won.