Welbeck Leads Arsenal past Manchester United in FA Cup clash

Welbeck joined Arsenal on a £16 million transfer in January after the Manchester United boss deemed him "not a line-up player" but a substitute at Old Trafford opting to stick with Colombian striker Radamel Falcao.

It will be interesting to note that Welbeck has 8 goals in the Gunners shirt in 21 appearances compared to Falcao’s 4 in 20 appearances with the Colombian's no-show in the starting line-up or even inability to get off the bench in the FA Cup quarter final clash against Arsenal raising questions about Van Gaal’s tactics and his faith in him.

Welbeck’s 61st minute striker was enough to guarantee Arsenal a ticket to Wembley for a semi final clash against either Readings or Bradford City depending on their second round results.

The win puts the 11 time FA cup winners on the path to a second consecutive FA cup final and an opportunity to defend the trophy they won in 2014.

Before the Monday night win, Arsenal had not won a single match at Old Trafford since 2006 with Manchester United winning 11 out of their 15 meetings in all competitions.

FLYING HEADER

Nacho Monreal gave Arsenal the lead in the 25th minute but Wayne Rooney was at hand to equalise with a flying header from Angel Di Maria’s cross four minutes later.

Van Gaal tactical substitutions, sending on Phil Jones and Michael Carrick for Ander Herrera and Luke Shaw did not help as the Gunner kept pressing on with an Antonio Valencia’s backpass to De Gea the blunder that gave a lurking Welbeck an opportunity to punish the Red Devils.

As the match progressed, Chambers was brought in for Héctor Bellerin in the 66th minute with Adnan Januzaj coming in for Marco Rojo in the 73rd minutes as both managers tried to tilt the match to their favour. Danny Welbeck was later replaced by Giroud in the 74th minute amid applause from a section of Old Trafford faithful as Wenger resolved for fresh legs in a bid to stretch the lead and ensure a semi final spot for the gunners. Nothing came out of these substitutions though as Arsenal earned a ticket to Wembley.

United’s resilience received a setback when Angel Di Maria received a second yellow that led to him being sent off with only 13 minutes left. After being booked for diving the Argentine tugged at referee Oliver’s shirt as he walked away thus getting the second yellow and a red card.

The FA Cup seemed the only hope of silverware for  Manchester United who have an almost impossible chance of winning the league as they lie fourth on the table, 10 points off table toppers Chelsea who have a game in hand.

Source: BBC