Young Gunners march into sixth round

Carlos Vela added to his stock by scoring his fifth goal of the season

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Sunday, 08, Mar 2009 08:51

Arsenal have ended Burnley's FA Cup dreams with a 3-0 win in the fifth round at the Emirates Stadium.

Carlos Vela, Eduardo, and Emmanuel Eboue netted in each half to set-up a clash with Hull City in the sixth round.

And once again, Arsene Wenger's youngsters repaid the faith show in them with a classy display against the Championship side.

Kieran Gibbs volleyed inches wide following a corner early on while Bacary Sagna's cross ended up on the roof of the net.

And it was one of the Gunners' rising stars who broke the deadlock on 25 minutes when Vela ran onto Andrei Arshavin's through ball, raced into the penalty box and dinked the ball over keeper Brian Jensen.

Some last-ditch defending prevented Arsenal from extending their lead with Clark Carlisle clearing just as Vela was about to pull the trigger while Steven Caldwell produced a late challenge to deny Eduardo.

The second-half followed a similar pattern and the Gunners sealed victory on 51 minutes with a stunning strike from Eduardo. The Croatian fired in a volley with the outside of his left foot into the top corner.

Eduardo should have grabbed his second minutes later but headed wide at the far post from Sagna's post while Theo Walcott, on his return from a four-month injury absence, failed to beat Jensen when sent clear.

Burnley produced a late flurry with Robbie Blake curling a shot wide while Caldwell thumped a header onto the crossbar. Owen Coyle's men felt they should have been awarded a penalty minutes later when Chris McCann was tripped in the box but referee Chris Foy waved play on.

But the Gunners had the final say when Eboue ran onto Alex Song's back-heel to rifle the ball into the corner, to keep the Gunners' hopes alive of winning their first trophy in four years.