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FA Cup Arsenal 3 – Plymouth 1
Published by admin on January 3, 2009
Arsenal secure a place in the fourth round of the FA Cup with a 3-1 victory over Plymouth at Emirates Stadium.
the championship team defended superbly in the first half to keep Arsenal at bay and goalkeeper Romain Larrieu pulled off a number of fine saves.
However, any hopes of booking a ticket to the next round were dashed within seven minutes of the restart as Arsenal opened up a 2-0 lead thanks to a Robin van Persie header and David Gray’s own goal.
Karl Duguid quickly pulled one back for Plymouth but Arsenal continued to dominate and sealed the win with Van Persie’s second of the afternoon five minutes from time.
Arsenal finally grabbed the lead just 53 seconds after the restart through Van Persie. The Dutchman was left unmarked in the six-yard box at a corner, taken by Nasri on the left, and promptly crashed a bullet header into the roof of the net.
Before the Championship side had time to regroup, it was 2-0. This time Van Persie turned provider, spinning his marker down the right side of the box and sending a low centre across goal.
With Bendtner lurking, Gray – the on-loan Manchester United defender making his debut – could only manage to divert the ball past the goalkeeper on 50 minutes.
Arsenal, though, were themselves then guilty of poor defending to immediately allow Argyle back into the match.
A deep free-kick from the left was punched only half clear by Fabianski. Gray, on the overlap down the right, picked up the loose ball and whipped it across a crowded six-yard box, where skipper Duguid arrived at the far post to volley into the net – and send the massed ranks of green behind the goal into delirium.
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