Gunners shoot down holders
Tomas Rosicky's brace helped Arsenal through to the next round
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Saturday, 06, Jan 2007 07:32
Arsenal advanced to the next stage of the FA Cup with a 3-1 victory over holders Liverpool at Anfield.
Despite their strong recent home form, Liverpool looked tentative in the opening exchanges and, although they had the lion's share of possession, failed to find any sort of cutting edge in the final third.
Steven Gerrard and Xabi Alonso looked the likeliest sources of a breakthrough for the hosts as a brace of long-range efforts had Manuel Almunia briefly concerned, but there was little invention from the front pair of Peter Crouch and Dirk Kuyt.
Arsene Wenger's men, and Tomas Rosicky in particular, duly punished Liverpool's lack of penetration with two goals in the final eight minutes of the half.
The Czech winger's brace of curled goals were stunningly similar, with the first coming after he collected a pass from Alexander Hleb and sent a precise shot arcing past Jerzy Dudek.
The Reds defence failed to learn their lesson and allowed him the space to repeat the trick in the 45th minute as his low shot sneaked past Dudek when the Pole should have really made a save.
Understandably content with their first half's work, Arsenal sat back and allowed Liverpool to build momentum through the second period.
As the waves of attack became more threatening and frequent, Dirk Kuyt pulled a goal back with a close-range header, but the anticipated grandstand finish was defused by a Thierry Henry strike that settled matters on 83 minutes.
The French forward showed that his pace and finishing power remain undimmed after his recent absence from the side and, after skipping beyond Jamie Carragher and cutting inside the remnants of the Liverpool backline, he coolly slotted home to guarantee his team's progress.