The Gunners cruise through to the quarter finals of the FA Cup with a comfortable 2-0 win against the current Championship leaders.
Wenger’s men showcased some fantastic football at times with many intricate spells of possession within the midfield and the final third with standout performances from Mesut Özil, Santi Cazorla and Olivier Giroud.
Arsenal made the breakthrough in the 27th minute following a defence splitting pass from Santi Cazorla, finding Kieran Gibbs who picked out Olivier Giroud who finished off a fine Arsenal move.
The second came just two minutes later, the Frenchman Giroud grabbing his second goal of the goal volleying in spectacularly from Sanchez’s corner.
The second half saw Arsenal control the game and possession of the ball as Middlesbrough struggled to stage a fight back, however Arsenal failed to extend their lead but wrapped up a good win to progress in their FA Cup title defence.
Player ratings
Wojciech Szczesny- 5- a return to the starting line-up for the Polish goalkeeper after a troublesome couple of months at the club. Difficult to give him anything more than a five out of ten as he literally had nothing to do as Middlesbrough didn’t come close until the last few minutes of the game.
Kieran Gibbs- 8- A fantastic performance from the English left back who also returned to the starting eleven after a short spell out of the side. He offered a lot going forward and looked very lively in the attacking third and got an assist for Giroud’s first goal.
Gabriel Paulista - 6- great to see the Brazilian defender make his debut for the Gunners. Had a fairly quiet game but looked comfortable in his first game in English football, however picked up a yellow card.
Laurent Koscielny- 6- another consistent performance from the ever reliable Koscielny, however similar to Gabriel he had a fairly quiet game as Middlesbrough didn’t threat the Arsenal goal for almost the whole game.
Calum Chambers- 7- another player returning to the side after a short absence and he looked as if he had never been away. Offered an option when going forward and also looked solid defensively.
Mathieu Flamini- 6- yet again another player who had a quiet game as he didn’t have to do as much defensive work as usual, however he kept calm and composed and broke up the play well in the middle of midfield.
Santi Cazorla- 8- a great performance yet again from Cazorla who’s on a great run of form. Played some beautiful passes in the midfield to set up numerous attacks and played a fantastic ball to set up the first Arsenal goal.
Mesut Özil- 8.5- looking like a new refreshed player and replicating some of his great form which he showed when he first joined the club. Showing his class in the opposition half as he seems to breeze past players with ease to set up chances for his team mates.
Danny Welbeck- 6- a hard working performance from Welbeck, looked slightly frustrated as he could have been played in on goal a few times by his team mates and also missed a few good chances in the game.
Alexis Sanchez- 7- he hardly has an average game and the tricky winger looked instrumental once again and looked hungry for yet more goals and assists.
Olivier Giroud- 8.5- a brace for Olivier Giroud as he continues his brilliant scoring form of late. A really well taken goal for his first and a brilliant volley to wrap the game up in the first half, he will be extremely pleased with his performance today.
Arsenal will be delighted as they edge ever closer to retaining their FA Cup trophy and are now one game away from another game at Wembley.
