Defending FA cup champs are not yet ready to give up their defending champions status. A brace from Alexis Sanchez was enough for Arsenal as they defeated a resolute Reading team 2-1 in the semi-final of the FA Cup. It was a tense affair, but Arsenal did have the better chances and Reading goalkeeper Adam Federici did his best to keep the damage to a minimum.
Arsenal opened the scoring through Sanchez, but McCleary levelled for the Championship team in the second half. It then took Sanchez till the 106th minute in extra time to score the decisive goal, which was a little unfortunate for Federici as he let the ball slip under him and desperately tried to claw out the ball which had already crossed the line.
Arsenal now face either Aston Villa or Liverpool in the final and will be looking to defend their FA Cup trophy. We rate the Arsenal plays from this tight affair.
Wojciech Szczesny: 6/10
Szczesny couldn’t really do much about the equalizer and had a decent enough game, he wasn’t troubled a lot by the Reading team though.
Mathieu Debuchy: 6/10
A surprising inclusion into the team, Debuchy played his first game in months and it looked like he is still rusty.
Per Mertesacker: 6/10
Mertesacker could have scored early in the first half but had to be replaced later on in the game by Gabriel.
Laurent Koscielny: 8/10
The Frenchman has become one of the most reliable centre backs in the league and he showed once again why he is just so good, not much got past him today and he did look as Arsenal’s best defender by miles.
Kieran Gibbs: 6/10
Again another surprising inclusion into the team in place of Bellerin and it looked like he needs more game time to get back to speed.
Francis Coquelin: 7/10
The young midfielder put up another decent performance and seems to be growing in his role, he probably is the answer to Arsenal not having a good defensive midfielder and needs a few seasons more to become world class.
Santi Cazorla: 7/10
The Spaniard played alongside Coquelin and was responsible for pulling the strings in midfield, he was brilliant on the ball and looked a threat throughout the game.
Aaron Ramsey: 6/10
Ramsey was played in an unfamiliar role down the right side and he struggled to put himself about in the game.
Mesut Ozil: 8/10
Was responsible for the first Sanchez goal and was always looking to create something for the Gunners.
Alexis Sanchez: 9/10
The attacker might not have been at his best but he showed that even on an off day he is brilliant enough and was the difference between the two sides.
Danny Welbeck: 6/10
Welbeck didn’t really do much and was taken care off really well by the Reading central pair who did not give Welbeck an inch.
Substitutes:
Gabriel Paulista: 7/10
Paulista looked brilliant when he came on to replace the injured Per and should have scored at least once.
Olivier Giroud: 7/10
Was more of a threat than Danny Welbeck though he did not have clear cut chances to score.
Theo Walcott: 7/10
Was brought on in extra time and did really well down the right, he did have a couple of good runs.
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