Mansfield Town 1-2 Arsenal
Eberechi Eze came off the bench to fire us into the quarter-final of the FA Cup, in a testing cup tie away to Mansfield Town.
Eze twisted and turned past his marker before rifling home, to book our place in the last eight, but we were made to work every inch of the way by our League One opponents.
Noni Madueke had earlier given us a first-half lead with a well-taken goal of his own after an evenly-contested first half hour.
The home side gave just as good as they got, racking up 11 shots in the first half, and drawing level soon after the restart through Will Evans.
Eze’s rocked was decisive though, as our quest for a record-extending 15th FA Cup continues.
Challenging start
Mikel Arteta made nine changes to the side that beat Brighton in midweek, among the players brought in were 16 year olds Max Dowman and Marli Salmon. And it was the the former – becoming our youngest ever FA Cup player at the age of 16 and 66 days – who had our first chance of the game in the opening five minutes.
Mansfield keeper Liam Roberts presented a pass straight to Dowman outside the area, but recovered well to make the save when one on one.
Starting with a back three, we were dominating the ball in the first ten minutes, but then the hosts had a flurry of chances.
Coming into the game in the bottom half of League One, they were playing with the confidence that belied their position. They had claimed a Premier League scalp in the fourth round by knocking out Burnley, and were clearly intent on doing it again.
Louis Reed brought a smart save from Kepa Arrizabalaga before Tyler Roberts saw his long-range effort deflected wide for a corner. Roberts then flashed over after a scramble in our own box, as the locals turned up the volume.
Rhys Oates then volleyed wide at the far post as the Stags racked up the shot count in the opening quarter of an hour.
Madueke breaks deadlock
We weathered the storm, and began to exert our authority again. Trossard shot over before carving out a great chance for Dowman. The Belgian beat his man on the left wing to cut it back to Dowman in the middle, but his snap shot was straight at Roberts.
Madueke then shot well over as both penalty areas saw plenty of action in the first half hour. Shortly afterwards though the England man broke the deadlock. His his first effort from the edge of the box parried by the keeper, but only as far as Martinelli. The Brazilian took a touch before rolling it back to Madueke 15 yards out, and he thumped it into the top corner with a first time left-footed effort.
It was our 100th goal of the season in all competitions, in our 46th match.
Evans equalises
Early in the second half though the hosts drew level. Salmon left his pass back to Cristhian Mosquera just short on the sticky surface, and Evans – who had only recently come on – nipped in to take possession. He drove into box before drilling his shot under Arrizabalaga.
The stadium erupted as they started to believe in another cup upset.
Eze blasts back
We were back to square one. Dowman showed great footwork to work another opening inside the area, but his low shot was turned behind.
We came even closer on the hour mark. Madueke beat his man to start an attack deep in his own half. He carried the ball 50 yards before slipping a pass to Dowman on the right, he cut it back to Gabriel Jesus, but the Brazilian’s shot was cleared off the line.
Arteta had called for Jurrien Timber and Eze by now, and it was our No. 10 who thumped us back ahead. He turned his man smartly outside the area before giving Roberts no chance with a rocket into the roof of the net.
Seeing it out
Arteta sent on 18 year old defender Jaden Dixon for his Gunners debut, and also introduced Bukayo Saka to the action for the final 15 minutes. Saka had a chance to seal it when he wriggled his way into the box, his low shot was only stopped by the outstretched boot of Roberts.
We had done enough to get the win though, and make it back to the quarter-final for the first time since we lifted the trophy in 2020.
What’s next
We head off to Germany to resume our Champions League campaign, away to Bayer Leverkusen for the first leg of our Round of 16 tie on Wednesday. Then it’s Everton at home in the Premier League on Saturday before we welcome Leverkusen to north London for the second leg next Tuesday.
The quarter-final of the FA Cup is scheduled for the first weekend of April, the draw will be made on Monday.
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