Arsenal midfield too much for Spurs

Arsene Wenger preserves record of never losing in FA Cup third round

Arsenal's Santi Cazorla scores against Tottenham Hotspur during their FA Cup match at the Emirates stadium on Saturday. Dylan Martinez / Reuters

LONDON // Arsenal swept aside north London rivals Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 at Emirates Stadium on Saturday to take their place in the fourth round of the FA Cup.

Santi Cazorla drilled in a fine opener on 31 minutes, before Tomas Rosicky doubled the lead on the hour with a well-taken finish after robbing Danny Rose on the halfway line and sprinting clear.

Tottenham, who had shown signs of improvement under new manager Tim Sherwood, were overrun in midfield as their strike pair Emmanuel Adebayor and Roberto Soldado failed to cause many problems.

The victory came at a cost, however, as Theo Walcott was carried off on a stretcher late on after appearing to suffer a knee injury.

Both sides started brightly. Spurs created the first opening as a deflected clearance sent Christian Eriksen in on goal. However, Arsenal No 2 goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski spread himself well and put the ball behind for a corner.

Arsenal then broke quickly as Serge Gnabry fed Walcott, and the England forward took his shot early from 20 yards which look destined for the bottom left corner before Hugo Lloris touched it wide.

Walcott continued to stretch the Spurs defence, with a curling effort deflecting off Vlad Chiriches and just wide before, from the resulting corner, Gnarby fired a shot inches over.

The pace of the match showed no signs of relenting as Cazorla whipped a 20-yard effort only a foot off target before Walcott beat the offside trap, but his low shot was kicked away by LLoris.

Arsenal went into the lead just after the half-hour. Gnarby collected Bacary Sagna’s pass and drove towards the penalty area. As Kyle Walker came across to cover Michael Dawson, the German stabbed the ball out to Cazorla on the overlap down the left and the Spaniard unleased a fierce drive back into the bottom corner.

Spurs, who beat Manchester United on Wednesday, looked to rally with Aaron Lennon again the main outlet.

The visitors, though, could well have been down to 10 men when Mousa Dembele pushed the back of his head into Jack Wilshere’s face as the pair tussled following a coming-together in the centre circle. However, despite being close to the incident, referee Mark Clattenburg took no action.

After some positive Spurs possession at the start of the second half, Adebayor failed to connect properly with Lennon’s cross through the Arsenal penalty area – much to the amusement of the home fans in the Clock End.

Just after the hour mark, it was 2-0. Rose dawdled on the halfway line, which allowed Rosicky to nip in and take the ball from the Spurs left-back.

The Czech playmaker sprinted clear into the penalty area, where he held off Walker to dispatch a clever chip over the keeper and send Arsenal into round four.

As Spurs tried to make a comeback, Walcott was unfortunate again to see a low effort curl just wide from 15 yards after more defensive lapses.

After using up all of their three substitutes, Arsenal had to play the closing stages with 10 men as Walcott was carried off on a stretcher after appearing to jar his knee.

The forward was taken around behind the Arsenal goal, in front of the Spurs fans – some of whom threw objects, which appeared to include coins and plastic bottles.

Walcott signalled a “2-0” gesture with his hands, before donning an Arsenal scarf as he was carried on around the stadium.