FA Cup - 3rd Round Match Recap: Arsenal leave it to Cesc
Fabregas to bail them out yet again
Arsenal this weekend saw themselves pitted against Leeds United in the FA Cup third round. Leeds United are a team of rich history, before they were unceremoniously dumped out of English Football’s top flight due to financial mismanagement on their part.
But, recently they have certainly made a habit of giving the top flight residents an unwelcome scare. Last season saw The Whites pull off a miraculous 1-0 win over Manchester United in the third round of this competition before they forced a replay out of
Tottenham Hotspur which Spurs won thanks to a Jermaine Defoe hat-trick.
This year though, Leeds looked to continue their impressive giant killing in the third round by following up the elimination of Manchester United with the elimination of Arsenal. And they almost had it done, if only Cesc Fabregas hadn’t successfully converted
a spot kick in the dying embers of the game. Leeds were on their way to yet another historic FA Cup win, and Arsene Wenger’s first at home since 1997 when again the opposition was Leeds.
As expected, Wenger made nine changes to the side that drew dourly against Manchester City on Wednesday night. Van Persie and Nasri were carrying knocks so were left out of the squad completely, while Cesc Fabregas and Gael Clichy only made the bench. Wenger
opted instead to start with Wojiech Szczeny, Emmanuel Eboue, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Marouane-Chamakh-c24294.
This was a strong enough team, but one which put up a lax, lethargic performance that lacked the urgency, drive and killer instinct to tear an inferior team apart. Arsenal had a plethora of chances wasted in the first half, most notably Arshavin’s one on
one with Kasper Schmichael. Arshavin was played on by a magnificent, piercing ball through the centre of the defence by Rosicky, and as the Russian notched onto the ball he looked uncomfortable and allowed the on rushing goalkeeper to keep his effort out.
Squillaci had a diving shot turned off the line and Denilson saw a rasping drive from 25 yards out just beaten away by an alert Schmichael. Bruce in defence proved a worthy adversary as he and O’Brien sniffed out Arsenal attacks and kept Bendtner and Chamakh
at bay. Schmichael again made a good save when Chamakh rose highest to head an http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Andrei-Arshavin-c5771 header, but the ball went straight at the goalkeeper.
Arsenal continued to press again in the second half when they fell behind. Denilson lunged in and brought down a Leeds player in the area and a penalty was rightly awarded. Snodgrass stepped up and buried the penalty past Szczeny who just about got a hand
to it but couldn’t keep it out. Then Szczeny pulled of a brilliant reflex save from a header to prevent Leeds from going 2-0 up. Wenger responded to the goal threats and sent on Cesc Fabregas in place of Song, and straight away the change in the pace of the
game was felt.
Fabregas sped up the passing and played intricate balls through the Leeds' defence, but even for all his efforts the team could not bury a chance. Wenger then sent on http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Theo-Walcott-c34873. In the 88th minute, Walcott appeared to be dragged
down in the area and the referee awarded a penalty. But, the referee rescinded the penalty after the linesman had flagged Bendtner for offside. Later, Walcott would admit to diving for that retracted penalty.
But then, just a minute later, Walcott was again brought down as he looked to convert a chance. This time, the penalty was awarded and Cesc Fabregas stepped up amidst all the pressure in the world to ensure that Arsenal weren’t prematurely sent packing from
this year’s competition. In injury time, Bendtner and Walcott again spurned glorious chances to win the game.
For Arsenal, this was a big let off, and a 90th minute penalty being the savior only proves that luck was shining down on the Emirates even after a showing where Arsenal showed dismal finishing. For Leeds United, this will be a disappointment
even though they didn’t even expected to earn a draw. For the entire world, it looked like Leeds were going to wrap this one up, and being undone in the way they were highly unlucky. And now that Wenger knows what the Whites are capable of, he is more likely
to send a more competent team out at Elland Road in ten days time.
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