Arsenal a step closer to ending nine-year trophy drought

Arsenal booked their place in the semi-finals of the FA Cup with a comfortable 4-1 win over Everton, with Mikel Arteta among the goalscorers against his former club.

Arsenal's Spanish midfielder Mikel Arteta, right, tussles with Everton's Belgian striker Kevin Mirallas during the English FA Cup quarter-final at the Emirates Stadium in London on March 8, 2014. Glyn Kirk / AFP
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Arsenal: Mesut Ozil (7), Mikel Arteta (68, pen.), Olivier Giroud (83,85)

Everton: Romelu Lukaku (32)

LONDON // The margin of victory was extremely flattering in the end, but that matters little. Arsenal were tested, wobbled slightly, but ultimately came good to reach the FA Cup semi-final.

That elusive first trophy since 2005 is a step closer and, while they are yet to win a game at the new Wembley, there was enough in this performance to suggest that the gloom that followed last week's league defeat to Stoke City was exaggerated.

But that has been a recurring problem for Arsenal in recent years: they are inconsistent over the course of a season, and inconsistent even within games.

This season they have been capable of spells of breathtaking football, when intent, energy and technique coincide.

The most sustained came in the home Uefa Champions League game against Napoli when, for 20 minutes or so, Arsenal pounded Rafa Benitez’s side, who never recovered.

The spell Arsenal produced in the first half against Everton lasted only about five minutes, but it was enough to give them the lead and leave the visitors reeling.

It began with Santi Cazorla accelerating away from James McCarthy and laying in Mesut Ozil to stroke in the opener – his first goal in three months and a much-needed confidence boost for the maligned creator. In the storm that followed, Yaya Sanogo had an effort beaten away by Joel Robles and Thomas Vermaelen drew the keeper into action with a long-range drive.

The problem for Arsenal has been that – increasingly as the season has gone on – when those storms blow out, the control of the early part of the season has gone.

The old jittery Arsenal still lurks, perhaps further beneath the surface in the recent past, but there nonetheless.

After a bright opening, Everton had done next to nothing from an attacking point of view when they suddenly equalised on 32 minutes.

Gareth Barry intercepted, Ross Barkley scampered down the right and crossed and, when Kevin Mirallas’s miskick at the back post dinked the ball over Lukasz Fabianski, Romelu Lukaku controlled and volleyed into an empty net from two yards out.

The pattern of the first half had been one of Arsenal pressure and Everton breaks, the second half went far more like the league game between the sides: an even, engaging game with chances at either end.

There was further evidence of the strange decline of Vermaelen, a player who, a couple of years ago, seemed the model of the new breed of attacking centre-backs but who has lapsed into potential liability territory.

Nine minutes into the second half, he slipped by the left touchline, then slipped again while getting up, letting Lukaku run into the box. He rolled the ball square for Barkley, who shot over from a highly promising position.

“We started the second half very well and made it an uncomfortable game for Arsenal,” said Roberto Martinez. “Ross Barkley in those situations hits the target nine times out of 10.”

But it was Arsenal who got the game's third goal, thanks, in part, to Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who was tenaciously effective all game and, in part, to Mikel Arteta, who knitted Arsenal's passing together from the back of midfield.

Oxlade-Chamberlain was tripped in the box by Barry and although Arteta had to retake his penalty when Olivier Giroud encroached, he showed admirable nerve to sweep home his second effort.

Once they were ahead, Arsenal reverted to the confident side of the first quarter of the game.

It helped that Giroud came off the bench to replace Sanogo, who increasingly seems to offer endeavour but little else, but the substitute’s two goals were the result of purposeful counter-attacking, notably by another from off the bench, Tomas Rosicky.

First the Czech laid in Bacary Sagna, who cut the ball back for Giroud to slam in, then he rolled a ball inside for Ozil who drew Joel Robles and teed up Giroud for his second in two minutes.

It felt a win vital to the immediate context of the season and also to put the Arsenal ship back on an even keel.

“It was important for us to win today on the psychological front,” Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said. “We can be inspired by our desire.”

sports@thenational.ae