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Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger praised his side’s strength in depth as the FA Cup holders made it through to round five with a 3-2 win at Brighton despite a spirited second half display from the Championship club.
The Gunners boss made seven changes to the team that won at Manchester City last Sunday, and two of those players – Theo Walcott and Mesut Ozil – scored to put the Premier League outfit into a commanding two-goal half-time lead.
“They’ve done well for players who have been out for such a long time. It was a pacey game on a difficult pitch, but they did very well. At the moment we are in good shape.”
“For a big part of the game, our pace and movement meant that we controlled the play, but it’s a cup tie against a team who will never give up and at 3-2 it was edgy although even then we still had chances to see the game off.”
Albion’s gutsy performance after the interval was also praised by Walcott, who marked his return to the Arsenal starting line-up after long-term injury with a second minute goal.
Show all 23 1 /23Brighton 2 Arsenal 3 Player Ratings Brighton 2 Arsenal 3 Player Ratings David Stockdale A very tough match for the goalkeeper. It would be very harsh to blame him for all three goals. All three arrived courtesy of poor defending or moments of sheer brilliance. He can be happy that at set pieces he did look commanding and rarely faced problems from Giroud in the air. 5
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Brighton 2 Arsenal 3 Player Ratings Bruno Saltor A tough game for the 34-year-old from Spain. His work rate was outstanding but unfortunately he found Gibbs’ pace too much to deal with. 4
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Brighton 2 Arsenal 3 Player Ratings Gordon Greer The Brighton captain would have done his research on how much Giroud would try to hold the ball up before feeding to either Walcott or Ozil. Unfortunately he didn’t get close enough to Giroud who too often had too much time to control the ball before thinking about his next move. 4
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Brighton 2 Arsenal 3 Player Ratings Lewis Dunk Playing alongside Greer he struggled with the pace of Arsenal’s attack. He tended to be a little unsure whether to fully commit himself or stand off players such as Walcott or Rosicky. That casual approach cost the Seagulls on an afternoon where they had to be so sure of themselves. 4
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Brighton 2 Arsenal 3 Player Ratings Joe Bennett The 24-year-old left back the costly mistake that led to Arsenal’s opener. He didn’t get close enough to Chambers and wasn’t able to stop the English right-back from crossing into the Brighton penalty area. 4
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Brighton 2 Arsenal 3 Player Ratings Danny Holla The Dutch 27-year-old has been pivotal so far this season for Brighton. Yet his effect on this one was lost courtesy of Flamini and Ramsey, who acting as defensive midfielders, snuffed out any attack that Holla attempted to start. 5
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Brighton 2 Arsenal 3 Player Ratings Rohan Ince The 22-year-old impressed in central midfield. While others such as Calderon failed sometimes to progress play, Ince wasn’t shy of bursting through the middle of the pitch. Made a superb tackle on Sanchez as well. 7
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Brighton 2 Arsenal 3 Player Ratings Inigo Calderon In the first half he was possibly one of Brighton’s more dangerous players. At least he attempted to attack the Arsenal back four. Unfortunately for him when he did have the ball at his feet it usually resulted in a misplaced pass or wild attempt at finding the back of the Arsenal goal. 5
Brighton 2 Arsenal 3 Player Ratings Jake Forster-Caskey The 20-year-old is nowhere near the finished article, yet he did possess creativity in Brighton’s central midfield. He took responsibility in trying to despatch passes to O’Grady and Baldock while appearing a threat outside of the Arsenal penalty area. 5
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Brighton 2 Arsenal 3 Player Ratings Sam Baldock The 25-year-old had scored just twice in 13 games before the cup tie against Arsenal. For 74 minutes he was thoroughly disappointing but a minute later minute he changed all of that when he dinked the ball over Szczesny to bring the score to 3-2. 6
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Brighton 2 Arsenal 3 Player Ratings Chris O'Grady Disappointing in the first half as he failed to take advantage of the decent service he was getting from Ince and Forster-Caskey. A player of such size should have imposed himself much more than he did in the first 45 minutes. The second half was a completely different story. He gave the Brighton fans hope of getting back into the cup tie when he fired a low shot into the bottom right corner of Szczesny’s goal. 6
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Brighton 2 Arsenal 3 Player Ratings Wojciech Szczesny His first game back since the smoking debacle at Southampton. Really, it was the perfect game to reintroduce him to his Arsenal teammates. It could be argued that he was too far to his left when O’Grady fired into the bottom right corner of the Polish keeper’s goal but other than that he’ll have little to be concerned about. Whether he manages to recover the No.1 spot remains to be seen. 6
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Brighton 2 Arsenal 3 Player Ratings Calum Chambers Did not hesitate when the chance arose for him to break forward on the right. It was his hard work on the flank in the early stages of the game that led to Arsenal taking the lead in the second minute. He dispossessed Bennett before crossing precisely to Walcott who scored. 6
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Brighton 2 Arsenal 3 Player Ratings Laurent Koscielny Partnering Monreal in Arsenal’s central defence he seemed his usually assured self. He is shorter in height than O’Grady and hasn’t got as much meat on him yet he used his intelligence to combat the striker. 6
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Brighton 2 Arsenal 3 Player Ratings Nacho Monreal Centre-back is certainly not Monreal’s favoured position and it is obvious why. He does rely on Koscielny too much. When the game got tight at 3-2 he allowed goalscorer Baldock too much space and was lucky that he wasn’t exposed when out of position. 5
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Brighton 2 Arsenal 3 Player Ratings Kieran Gibbs Full of energy and a joy to watch. Saltor had a torrid time trying to keep up with the English left-back. Defensively he did what needed to be done as well. Calderon, who tried several times to penetrate the left side of the Arsenal defence, must have forgotten that Gibbs is just as much a defender as he is a wing back. 7
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Brighton 2 Arsenal 3 Player Ratings Mathieu Flamini In his natural role as a defensive midfielder he was fairly comfortable. His main responsibility for the majority of the match was to mark Forster-Caskey. He did that with relative ease as most of Brighton’s attacks bypassed their own midfield and were easily dealt with by Arsenal’s defence. 6
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Brighton 2 Arsenal 3 Player Ratings Theo Walcott Certainly looks as though he has regained his sharpness since being out due to injuries to his knee and groin. He set Arsenal on their way in the second minute when he controlled Chambers’s cross before he rifled his shot past Stockdale. Replaced by Alexis Sanchez on 69 minutes. 7
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Brighton 2 Arsenal 3 Player Ratings Aaron Ramsey Sat deep alongside Flamini and orchestrated attacks similarly to how he has done for nearly two seasons. He seemed ever so comfortable going forward with Flamini anchored to his position. When he was required to drop back he did and still proved to be instrumental in Arsenal’s attack. 6
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Brighton 2 Arsenal 3 Player Ratings Tomas Rosicky Started on the left side of midfield but so often chose to move inside where he found a lot of freedom and plenty of success. Indeed, he provided the assist for Arsenal’s second goal when he played a nimble pass to Ozil, who finished easily after timing his run exquisitely. 7
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Brighton 2 Arsenal 3 Player Ratings Mesut Ozil Replaced by Francis Coquelin on 79 minutes. He scored with a very assured finish after a delicate through ball from Rosicky. Played through the centre today, a little behind Giroud, he did have an effect but too often it seemed his presence provided limited joy. 5
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Brighton 2 Arsenal 3 Player Ratings Olivier Giroud Replaced by Chuba Akpom on 69 minutes. Enjoyed the contests with Greer and Dunk. There were a couple of occasions where a last second run would have helped Walcott or Ozil pick a more decisive pass but he did enough to warrant praise. 6
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Brighton 2 Arsenal 3 Player Ratings Best of the Bench: Alexis Sanchez Hit the crossbar with a free kick and forced a superb save from Stockdale from another set piece late on. His influence on the game when he came with 21 minutes remaining was huge. His energy helped carry Arsenal over the line. It doesn’t bear thinking about where Arsene Wenger’s team would be without him. 6
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“In patches we were very good. Their goals put us under pressure, and you have to credit Brighton, they kept coming at us, and after yesterday’s results, it was never going to be easy.”
“I’ve been out for a year so it’s going to take time to get match fitness back. I was blowing hard towards the end, but I was pleased with the finish, and there’s definitely going to be many more.”
“We were disappointed with the goals we conceded, but in the FA Cup it doesn’t matter how you perform as long as you get through.”
The win means Arsenal are now favourites to retain the trophy they won in May as they take their place in Monday evening’s fifth round draw, and Wenger remarked on the possibility of becoming the first manager to win the trophy for a record sixth time.
“We have a goal, but there’s such a long way to go. We are ready for the fight.”
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