Emirates FA Cup
Third Round
January 6th
Emirates Stadium, London, England
1-0
55′ Nelson
Arsenal will travel to Bournemouth in the Fourth Round of the Emirates FA Cup after defeating Championship side Leeds United 1-0 at the Emirates Stadium.
In what was a tale of two contrasting halves, Reiss Nelson scored the decisive winner for the Premier League outfit in the 55th minute to send Mikel Arteta’s side into the next round, after a dominant first-half showing from Marcelo Bielsa’s men, who were made to rue several squandered-opportunities.
The visitors started in the ascendancy and had a good opportunity to go in front in the sixth minute, when a misplaced-pass from Rob Holding eventually allowed Patrick Bamford to be sent through on-goal, but the former Chelsea striker saw his effort blocked by the recovering defender, who made amends.
Eight minutes later, the away side should have taken the lead when Bamford exchanged passes with Jack Harrison before rattling the bar with a thunderous effort from inside the area.
In the 20th minute, the Peacocks came close again when Kalvin Phillips’ teasing freekick was flicked-on by Ben White, forcing a parrying-save from Emiliano Martínez.
The hosts rarely threatened in the first period, but had a good opportunity in the 30th minute, when David Luiz headed wide from a corner.
Two minutes later, Leeds had another chance to open the scoring when Luke Ayling’s teasing delivery found Ezgjan Alioski, who diverted the ball goal-wards under-pressure from Sokratis Papastathopoulos, but Martínez terrifically palmed the effort away at full-stretch.
In the 39th minute, the Whites had another sight of goal when Mateusz Klich’s pull-back found the unmarked Robbie Gotts, who fired the ball over the bar.
Th Gunners started the second-half on top and very nearly took the lead five minutes into the restart, when Alexandre Lacazette curled a freekick from the edge of the area against the top of the crossbar.
A minute later, the Frenchman came close again – combining well with Mesut Özil, before curling an effort towards the bottom-corner that Illan Meslier palmed away.
In the 55th minute, the home side took the lead after Lacazette’s pull-back was diverted by Barry Douglas into the path of Nelson, who bundled the ball home past Meslier from close-range.
Twenty minutes later, the north London side came close to doubling their lead when substitute Gabriel Martinelli cut-inside to curl an effort that Meslier palmed away at full-stretch.
The result meant that Arsenal will meet Bournemouth in the Fourth Round of the competition, while Leeds United bowed out of the competition.
LMDFootball 