Arsenal is a club surrounded by rumors and uncertainty at the present time but tonight it was all about their opponents, non-league side Lincoln City. Each and every season there’s always at least one low league side that beats all expectations and this season Lincoln were undoubtedly one of those sides. The non-league side was previously pretty much unknown within FA Cup history as by reaching the quarter-finals this year they have surpassed their own previous records. Another notable statistic is that Lincoln was the first non-league side to reach a quarter-final since 1914, this really puts the side’s achievement into perspective.
For the game on Saturday, Lincoln City sold out their allocated 9,000 tickets in the away end at the Emirates stadium which for a club of their side is very impressive. However, the fairytale wasn’t to be as the pure quality of Arsenal was too much for the Imps. In previous rounds, sides had fielded strong teams by their standards but Arsene Wenger wasn’t messing around. From his point of view, he could find himself out of a job if he doesn’t perform in the FA Cup this season, therefore, being knocked out by a much lower ranked side could have proved fatal for the Frenchman and so Arsenal had a pretty much full strength side out. As a consequence Arsenal smashed their way to a straightforward 5-0 victory.
Credit where credit is due Lincoln City did play very well in the first half, often looking comfortable in possession and having a strong foothold in the soccer match. However Arsenal got their break through in the first half injury time when inform Theo Walcott was able to find the back of the net. But realistically one goal is never going to be enough for a full strength Arsenal side to be happy with their performance and Arsene Wenger would have known that the fans would have been demanding more. I don’t doubt that he had a few stern words at half time to focus his players.
In the second half, unfortunately for Lincoln City, Arsenal ran riot. Early on in the second half Olivier Giroud finished to settle some nerves. This goal was then quickly followed by an unfortunate own goal by Luke Waterfall as the ball cannoned off him into his own net. At 3-0 Arsenal were now well and truly in their flow. The second half domination was completed when Alexis Sanchez and Aaron Ramsey finished off the 5-0 rout for the North London side.
Although an obvious improvement on recently performances given that Arsenal’s last outing was their humiliation at the hands of Bayern Munich I don’t think it’s fair to say that they’re back to their winning ways but it’s of course a step in the right direction for the Gunners.
Lincoln on the other hand will be bitterly disappointed that their run in the FA Cup has come to an end but let’s not take this out of context. This is the quarter final of the FA Cup featuring a non league side. Something that regardless of how they were ever going to do against Arsenal is an enormous achievement for the side. If it’s any consolation I don’t doubt that the Lincoln City players will be getting a nice little pay bonus compared to what they’re used to. But that’s not really what the soccer cups are about. Cups are where we celebrate the underdog and Lincoln City’s run in the FA Cup this season has definitely been one of those moments.
