Report: Arsenal 4-0 Aston Villa

It was a glorious day for Arsenal as we became the most successful team in FA Cup history with a comfortable win over Aston Villa. The 4-0 victory came thanks to goals from Theo Walcott, Alexis Sanchez, Per Mertesacker and Olivier Giroud, and the scoreline was in keeping with Arsenal’s dominance throughout the game. Cazorla and Ozil were magestic in the middle of the park, Sanchez and Walcott caused constant problems to Villa’s defence, and the defence dealt with anything thrown at them.

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Arsenal: Szczesny; Bellerin, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal; Coquelin, Cazorla, Ramsey, Ozil, Alexis; Walcott

Aston Villa: Given; Hutton, Vlaar, Okore, Richardson; Westwood, Delph, Cleverley; Grealish, N’Zogbia, Benteke.

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After a week of team selection debate amongst the Arsenal fanbase, Arsene put an end to the deliberation, keeping faith with his cup ‘keeper by naming Szczesny in goal, while Walcott was preferred to Giroud in attack after his impressive hattrick last week. Theo made a telling contribution and the big Pole barely had anything to do.

Arsenal controlled possession from the start, being careful not to repeat the mistakes of a year ago that saw us two goals down in the early stages. In the 8th minute we seriously threatened for the first time when Cazorla found space in the box, but was unable to find Walcott at the far post with a dangerous cross. From a corner that followed shortly after, Koscielny had a free header but missed the target when he perhaps should have made more of it.

The first real chance fell to Koscielny in the 15th minute, with the Frenchman found six yards out by a dinked Alexis cross, but Shay Given was equal to the powerful headed effort that was aimed too close to the goalkeeper.

Moments later Ramsey was found at the near post after good work by Bellerin down Villa’s left hand side, but his prodded effort rolled just wide. Arsenal were on top but not making opportunities count.

The Welshman came close again soon after, when good work from Ozil found Ramsey in the box. He was lucky to control the ball into space with a ricochet off a Villa defender, but his poked shot sailed over the bar when he really should have opened the scoring.

Arsenal’s dominance continued, and after neat interplay between Monreal, Cazorla and Ozil, Walcott was presented with an open goal a few yards out, but a goal line block from Kieran Richardson kept the scoreline blank.

The deadlock was broken in the 40th minute. Walcott swapped positions with Sanchez and moved out wide left, and the Englishman was found by a pinpoint crossfield pass from Coquelin. Theo fed Monreal down his outside, and the Spaniard’s cross went deep to Alexis, who nodded the ball back across goal into space. Walcott had followed the cross in, and was quickest to react, thumping home a powerful left footed volley past Shay Given. The Irishman was given no chance, and it was a relief to score before half time given the team’s profligacy in front of goal up to that point.

Whatever words of encouragement were yelled at the Villa players by Tim Sherwood at half time didn’t have much of an impact on the pattern of play, as Ozil and man of the match Cazorla continued to dictate the pace of the game.

It didn’t take long before Arsenal’s advantage was doubled, when player of the season Alexis Sanchez thundered in one of the great FA Cup final goals. The Chilean picked the ball up 25 yards out from goal, forged some space for himself, and smashed an unstoppable strike that moved in the air and left Shay Given grasping at nothing as the ball clipped off the crossbar on it’s way into the net.

Arsenal were rampant at the start of the second half, with a string of chances for the likes of Ramsey, Walcott and Cazorla keeping Given busy in the Villa goal.

Tim Sherwood’s side had little in response, and it was 3-0 shortly after the hour mark. Walcott was unable to get a clean shot away when put clear through on goal by Ozil, but from a corner moments later the tallest man on the pitch was left unmarked six yards out and allowed to score the third. Per Mertesacker’s shouldery finish left the yellow sea of Arsenal fans in raptures, and the game looked done and dusted with 30 minutes left to go.

We were content to keep possession and keep Villa at arms length, forging the odd half chance. Walcott should have had his second of the day when put clear through with 15 minutes remaining, but his attempt on goal was skewed well wide. He was replaced moments later by Olivier Giroud, with Jack Wilshere also coming on to replace the superb Ozil.

There was a moment of drama in the 80th minute when a surging Gabriel Agbonlahor was taken down by Coquelin on his way into the Arsenal box. In real time it looked like a penalty, on reflection it was probably a free kick on the edge of the area, but referee Jon Moss waved play on. Villa were claiming for a penalty again shorly after when Jack Grealish was pulled down in the box by Hector Bellerin, but again Moss had no interest, much to Sherwood’s chagrin. There was merit in both appeals but in the grand scheme of things it made little difference.

The cherry on top was added when Giroud tapped in at the near post from an Oxlade-Chamberlain cross, and it capped a fantastic performance by the team. This game was a joy to watch in comparison to recent nervy trips to Wembley, with our goal never under any real threat.

Arsene goes level with George Ramsey as the most successful manager in the competitions history. We went nine years without a trophy, but we’ve now lifted the FA Cup twice in twelve months, and it feels pretty great.