Arsenal FA Cup favourites but defensive weaknesses remain

Posted Monday, January 26, 2015 by Goal.com

COMMENT: The Gunners are through to the fifth round with many of their rivals eliminated or facing replays but, they lapsed into bad habits of old against Brighton on Sunday

By Oliver Platt at the Amex Stadium

Arsenal are through to the fifth round of the FA Cup, Theo Walcott and Mesut Ozil have made goalscoring returns and the early exit of many of their rivals has made the Gunners favourites to win the competition.

But still, the victory over Championship side Brighton was as much a source of frustration as excitement at times for the travelling fans.

A second half that should not have been much of a spectacle sped up to an alarming pace. Arsenal led by two at the break, had delighted more than 4,000 away supporters with some sublime football and the focus of our attention now should be on Tomas Rosicky, who was sensational. "If you love football, you love Rosicky," Arsene Wenger said afterwards.

But instead, Brighton were allowed back into the game in a fashion that bordered on farcical. Rosicky, ironically, was at fault as Chris O’Grady woke the Amex from its disappointed slumber, slicing a wild clearance across the pitch that Calum Chambers bizarrely opted not to head to safety. The ball bounced off his knee and straight into the path of the journeyman striker, who held off a weak challenge from Mathieu Flamini and beat Wojciech Szczesny to his right.

The hosts were always likely to have a spell where the wind blew behind them but it looked to have come to an abrupt end when Rosicky volleyed in a brilliant third after exchanging passes with Olivier Giroud.

Not so, as Danny Holla was permitted the time and space in the Arsenal half to pick out Sam Baldock, who lofted a cool finish over Szczesny.

There followed an end-to-end finish that left Arsenal digging deeper than they had ever expected to. Francis Coquelin was required to steady the midfield and even Alexis Sanchez, on what had likely been marked as a rest day, was introduced. The Gunners’ safest route to victory would be scoring another goal.