Arsenal bounced back from Thursday’s Europa League elimination with a comfortable 2-0 victory in their FA Cup 5th round tie against Portsmouth at Fratton Park on Monday night.
Defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos put the visitors ahead on the stroke of half-time with a crisp volley, before Arsenal youngster Eddie Nketiah added a second early in the second half.
It was a much-changed Arsenal side to the one that collapsed in the final minutes against Olympiacos last week. Bukayo Saka and David Luiz, captain on the night, were the only players to retain their places in the starting 11. January signing Pablo Mari made his debut in the centre of defence, while there was no space for top-scorer Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang or Mesut Ozil in the 18-man squad.
With a packed fixture list ahead, Portsmouth manager Kenny Jackett made six changes from his side’s 3-0 victory over Rochdale last Friday. Captain Tom Naylor and top scorer Ronan Curtis shook off knocks to start on the bench, with Marcus Harness, Gareth Evans and Ellis Harrison among those coming in.
It was the first time Arsenal had visited Portsmouth in the FA Cup since a 5-1 victory in 2004. That evening, Thierry Henry and Freddie Ljungberg grabbed braces, though you could forgive fans for not expecting a similar thrashing this time around.
In a first half lacking in chances, it was the hosts who applied the pressure and, in particular, Harness. The winger floated two lovely crosses for Evans and James Bolton to attack, but on both occasions they failed to hit the target. For all their endeavour, Pompey failed to test Emiliano Martinez in the Arsenal goal.
Arsenal barely threatened and were poor for much of the first half. They were forced into an early change after midfielder Lucas Torreira was injured following a crunching tackle from Bolton. After a five-minute delay, the Uruguayan was stretchered off and was later seen leaving Fratton Park on crutches.
However, they took advantage in first-half stoppage time through an unlikely source. Reiss Nelson had time and space to whip in a fierce low cross, which Sokratis met with a sweet volley. It was finished expertly by the Greek defender; one that Aubameyang would have been proud of.
Until that point, the most memorable act of the opening 45 minutes was when Mike Dean bizarrely booked Arsenal midfielder Matteo Guendouzi for being over-exuberant when placing the ball down for a free-kick, for which Dean took as sarcasm.
Arsenal picked up the tempo in the second-half, and doubled their lead six minutes into the second half.
Joe Willock gave the ball to Reiss Nelson on the right wing. Nelson drove at Ross McCrorie, and used his pace to skip past the full-back. He then fizzed in another low cross, this time into the path of Nketiah, who prodded home his third goal in his last four starts. The Arsenal Academy could take pride; all three players involved are graduates of the famed Hale End Academy.
Portsmouth brought on Curtis in response but he couldn’t make the desired impact, only able to test Martinez once with a tame effort late in the second half, and the game finished 2-0.
It was tough on Portsmouth, who made a good account of themselves, but Arsenal’s second half performance turned a potentially tricky tie into a routine victory.
