Manchester City and Arsenal might not have been hugely impressive in the Premier League this season but their hopes of winning the FA Cup are still alive. The Citizens defeated Middlesbrough while Arsenal thrashed Lincoln City to book their respective semifinal berths in the prestigious competition. While City won 2-0, Arsenal blew away Lincoln City 5-0.
FA Cup 2017 quarterfinals schedule
City went into their match against Middlesbrough as favourites, and they started on a bright note, with David Silva opening their account in the third minute of the game. With Middlesbrough going down so early, the task always looked uphill as the City players looked a threat while going forward.
During the second half, Sergio Aguero scored Manchester City's second goal, and shut Middlesbrough's hopes. However, Middlesbrough should thank their goalkeeper Brad Guzan, who made a number of world-class saves to stop City from embarrassing their opponents. It is for the first time in four years that City have reached the last-four stage of the competition.
In the other semifinal between Arsenal and Lincoln City, it was the Gunners who had a great day at the office. Though their manager Arsene Wenger has been under pressure, facing severe criticism, his players stood up to the task with a solid performance in the second half.
Arsenal were made to wait for their opening goal as Theo Walcott found the back of the net in the closing stages of the first half, and they looked a wonderful team in the second 45 minutes.
Olivier Giroud, Alexis Sanchez and Aaron Ramsey scored the goals for Arsenal while Lincoln's Luke Waterfall scored an own goal too. However, among all the goals, it was the Sanchez's solo goal, which bagged the limelight. Wenger was pleased to see a quality performance from his players in the second half.
"It was all us in the second half but you have to congratulate Lincoln for what they have achieved in the FA Cup. We have been short of confidence after some disappointing results recently. When the confidence was there in the second half, the quality came back," BBC quoted Wenger as saying.
