vs
Blackburn 1-0
Arsenal
Substitute Benni McCarthy's wonder goal delivered a second cup
knockout blow to Arsenal in the space of four days. Beaten in the
Carling Cup final on Sunday, Arsenal exited the FA Cup in a game
they really should have won.
The Gunners had two reasonable first-half penalty appeals rejected,
while Julio Baptista missed with a header and had a couple of shots
saved. And McCarthy punished Arsenal in the most devastating
fashion, breaking in from the wing and arrowing home a shot.
Blackburn manager Mark Hughes had opted to keep McCarthy on the
bench for the opening hour and Rovers suffered in the absence of
their top scorer. The home side laboured in attack and had to rely
on goalkeeper Brad Friedel's reflexes to keep them in the match,
just as he had done in the first meeting between the two
sides.
McCarthy initially struggled to adapt to the pace of the game, but
with four minutes remaining he broke past Philippe Senderos and
beat Manuel Almunia with that wonderous strike to score his 16th
goal of the season. Blackburn's reward is a FA Cup quarter-final
tie at home to Manchester City.
In truth Blackburn were fortunate to go in at half-time on level
terms as both Jeremie Aliadiere and Fredrik Ljungberg had
reasonable penalty appeals turned down. Aliadiere went to ground
after Friedel came out quickly as the Arsenal striker threatened.
Friedel ticked off Aliadiere, suggesting the Frenchman had dived
and referee Graham Poll remained unmoved by Arsenal's
appeals.
Poll was equally dismissive of an appeal from Ljungberg after the
Swede tumbled following Brett Emerton's challenge. On the sidelines
Arsene Wenger was flabbergasted no penalty had been given and
television replays showed the Arsenal manager might have good
reason to be so.
Baptista missed several chances for
Arsenal
Arsenal had a couple of chances to score from open play, but each
time their finishing was awry. The unmarked Baptista sent a header
over the bar, while Ljungberg was let down by poor control when he
was in a menacing position.
Having gone close with that header, Baptista tried his luck with
his feet, testing Friedel with a couple of powerful shots, though
each time the American was the equal of the Brazilian. Just before
the hour, Morten Gamst Pedersen missed Blackburn's best chance when
he blazed wide from a promising position.
This was Arsenal's third FA Cup trip this season to the north west,
but having beaten Liverpool and Bolton, this journey proved third
time unlucky for Wenger's team.
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Blackburn boss Mark Hughes:
"The goal deserved to win any game and I can't wait to see it
again. Benni brings world-class quality and he's shown that all
through the season. "What a good decision from the manager to bring
him on as an impact player! "We've got a pretty good record against
Manchester City and we'll be looking forward to that and hoping to
do well."
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Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger:
"We were never under pressure and we had lots of chances to score,
but we didn't take them. It's difficult to take over the two games.
We needed to be ruthless, but we were also bit unlucky over the two
matches with decisions. "With Fredrik Ljungberg in the first half
it looked a clear penalty."
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Blackburn: Friedel, Emerton, Samba, Nelsen, Warnock (Khizanishvili
46), Bentley, Kerimoglu (Dunn 63), Mokoena, Pedersen, Nonda
(McCarthy 63), Derbyshire.
Subs Not Used: Enckelman, Roberts.
Booked: Kerimoglu, Dunn, Derbyshire, McCarthy.
Goals: McCarthy 87.
Arsenal: Almunia, Eboue (Walcott 61), Senderos, Gallas, Traore
(Clichy 66), Hleb, Denilson, Silva, Ljungberg, Aliadiere, Julio
Baptista.
Subs Not Used: Poom, Gavin Hoyte, Randall.
Booked: Traore, Clichy.
Att: 18,882.
Ref: G Poll (Hertfordshire).
