And so the FA Cup's most successful team reached its 30th semi final; joint with Mancheester United, who are also through. United also hold the joint record for most number of Final appearances with 20, but Arsenal's 2-1 win over Chelsea in 2017 puts them one FA Cup ahead, with 13 against United's 12.
Both teams will be underdogs in their semi final ties, with United drawn against Chelsea and Arsenal getting the 'plum' draw, Manchester City. Arsenal fans are already drawing comparisons - mostly in hope rather than expectation - with 2017, when a late Monreal semi final winner saw them through 2-1 against City, and Aaron Ramsey's late winner gave them victory over Chelsea in the Final for Arsene Wenger's last trophy as Arsenal Manager.
But enough of statstics - let's look at the action from the win at Bramall Lane:
Mikel Arteta rotated his squad - only he knows why - with 5 changes to the starting XI. However there was no place in the squad for Matteo Guendouzi (internal discipline) or Mesut Ozil (alleged slight back injury). Rob Holding was rested - replaced by David Luiz, along with Hector Bellerin (Maitland-Niles coming in) and Kolasinac also got a start. Dani Ceballos and Eddie Nketiah were given the day off, along with top scorer and talisman Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Willock and Lacazette started. Sheffield United were at full strength.
We obviously do worry about the quality of this Arsenal squad, but even with these changes the team were good enough to mostly keep Sheffield United well at bay. The hosts looked dangerous at set pieces, but at hardly any other time, and Arsenal generally dominated possession. Unfortunately, they didn't often look comfortable in possession, with a lot of passing (quite a bit of it under pressure) between keeper and back line and very little going forwards. The players are clearly still lacking in confidence, but hopefully each win will help build that. Although it's worth pointing out that after their next Premier League game, at home to Norwich, they have something of a nightmare run of games - Wolves, Leicester, Tottenham, Liverpool and then the semi final, before ending with rather easier opposition in the shape of Aston Villa and Watford, both of whom have come back from the break in truly terrible form.
Arsenal took the lead half way through the first half with a Nicolas Pepe penalty, after Lacazette had been tackled/fouled from behind by Basham (apt name) on the edge of the area. He dispatched the kick with consummate ease. Prior to that, Sheffield had a goal disallowed for offside (from a corner) - and had another chalked off in the second half after a free kick. But, as I say, apart from set pieces Sheffield didn't have too much to offer, and Granit Xhaka's sensible positioning had a lot to do with that.
From half time, however, the lack of confidence within the Arsenal ranks showed, as they backed off to allow Sheffield a little too much of the ball, and we were waiting for the inevitable. Which duly arrived in the 87th minute when a smashed clearance from Kolasinac (from a long throw; I think we're starting to see a theme) cannoned back off Holding - on for Luiz, who was off with an ankle injury - into the path of McGoldrick. The latter is hardly prolific, but he could hardly miss.
And so the spectre of extra time loomed. At which we would surely have finally seen Aubameyang, who had spent a lot of the second half warming up vigorously; Arteta ignored him for the most part, much to the former's chagrin. But fortunately, following further Sheffield pressure which featured a decent save from Martinez from Sharp's low shot, a quick breakaway led by Saka and Neketiah led to an oportunity for Pepe which rebounded into the path of Dani Ceballos, who finished well from a tight angle.
And so Arsenal were through. Much tougher tests than a Sheffield United side - who haven't come back in the same form as they were in before - now await, and it remains to be seen how Arsenal are going to cope with that. Norwich should be straighforward, but it's going to really warm up after that.
I'm still to be convinced that Arteta knows his best side, and he appears to be continuing to experiment with his line-up. I feel that the most we can hope for over the next few weeks is to come through the league games fairly unscathed - I'd envisage a maximum of 15 points out of the 24 available, which might lead to a Europa League spot but will leave Arsenal well short of a Champions League place) and to avoid a semi final thrashing. I am being realistic here - it's impossible to be optimistic at the moment. And then we'll see what business is done between seasons.
In the meantime we have seen some contracts renewed in the interim, with offers being made to Mari and Cedric (not sure where he'll fit in) and Luiz surprisingly being retained for his option year - but apparently at considerably lower wages than he is currently being paid. However, it's squad churn that is required, and a stronger general mentality. Plus I'm sure we'd all be most grateful for Saka to 'sign da ting'. And of course Aubameyang's continuing presence must be in the lap of the gods.
Norwich in two days - see you after that. Stay safe.
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