Arsenal 4 - 0 WatfordTheo Walcott seals Arsenal win over Watford to exact revenge for Cup exit
Home team scorersAlexis Sanchez 4
Alex Iwobi 38
Hector Bellerin 48
Theo Walcott 90
Fifty-three minutes in, and the Arsenal support were shouting the ‘Olés’ as their team hogged the ball and, frankly, strayed close to the territory of the show-boat. It certainly made a change from ‘Wenger Out’ and veins bulging in foreheads, which has been the vibe at this stadium over recent matches.
Arsenal have not been this comfortable at home for quite some time, probably not since the 2-0 win over Bournemouth on 28 December and Arsène Wenger, the relentlessly under-fire manager, could take reassurance from an absolute stroll.
It was impossible to believe that this was the same Watford who had won here in the FA Cup quarter-final just three weeks previously. They barely contributed this time and it was left to Alex Iwobi, Arsenal’s 19-year-old attacking midfielder, to steal the show.
It felt fitting that as Arsenal remembered David Rocastle, who died 15 years ago this week, another academy product should step forward to impress. Iwobi created the opening goal for Alexis Sánchez while he scored the second himself and his overall performance was marked by willingness, intelligence and cutting edge. When he was substituted towards the end, he departed to a standing ovation.
Wenger had said that it was “now or never” for Arsenal’s Premier League title hopes – in other words, they could not afford any more dropped points. They still have to visit West Ham United and Manchester City, and their designs on the trophy still feel wishful but, as at Everton before the international break, they have demonstrated their intention to fight until the last.
There had been no sense of angst about the home crowd at the outset; rather the feeling that Watford ought merely to be swatted aside – which, it should be said, did not happen the last time that these teams met. Then again, Watford had brought with them a dreadful run of league form. Since their magnificent home win over Liverpool on 20 December, they have won only twice in the competition.
Everybody connected to Arsenal, nonetheless, wanted the soothing tonic of an early goal and it duly arrived. Watford had barely escaped their own half when Francis Coquelin cushioned a header from a clearance back for Iwobi, who was allowed to saunter forward and pick a cross towards Sánchez at the far post.
Sánchez had drifted in behind Nathan Aké and the ball was made to measure for him. He needed two bites to score, his initial header being pawed out by Heurelho Gomes, but he was quicker than Aké to the rebound and he tucked away his 12th goal of the club season. Reassuringly for Arsenal, Sánchez was in the mood.
Arsenal’s control of the first-half was total and so the thought, obviously, occurred that they would allow Watford back to 1-1 at the interval. Not this time. They got the second goal when Coquelin released Sánchez with an incisive pass and the Chilean returned Iwobi’s earlier assist with a cut-back for him. Iwobi arrived to slam low past Gomes. Sánchez’s first touch and burst of pace were noteworthy featured of the goal.
The Emirates crowd saluted the late, great Rocastle with applause in the seventh minute and there were other uplifting moments, not least Hector Bellerin’s Zidane-style 360 spin which got him away from two Watford players in the 42nd minute.
The Arsenal fans also loved it when Mesut Özil jogged over to take a corner on 25 minutes in front of the away enclosure, who booed him – they were unhappy at what they perceived to have been an earlier soft tumble from him. Özil responded by applauding them.
The Watford support contended themselves with the knowledge that they were going to Wembley for the FA Cup semi-final and whatever else would be, including this defeat, which had felt inevitable from the early running.
Arsenal might have been further in front by half-time. Danny Welbeck scuffed one chance and was narrowly off-target with another, while Iwobi worked Gomes with a wonderful curling effort from a tight angle and Sánchez did likewise with a free-kick.
Quique Sánchez Flores gestured at his substitute’s bench as soon as Sánchez had burst up the right to lay on the second and he hooked Étienne Capoue shortly afterwards. The Frenchman, who had played at left midfield, jogged straight off down the tunnel; it is never anything but a humiliation to be withdrawn in the first-half. It spoke volumes, too, that Flores took off Odion Ighalo at half-time. He could have removed practically anyone.
Bellerin got the third straight after the interval with a shot that deflected off Ben Watson – it was his first goal since the corresponding weekend of last season – and, thereafter, Arsenal pressed cruise control.
Iwobi rattled the crossbar in the 50th minute and perhaps the stand-out memory of the second-half was that of Allan Nyom scything through Özil, having been rattled by the Arsenal’s playmaker’s flicks and general messing about. Nyom indicated, with an imaginary drag-back, that he did not appreciate how Özil was going about the game. Nyom was booked.
For Watford, Sebastian Prödl had a header cleared off the line by Nacho Monreal and Troy Deeney was denied by an acrobatic save by David Ospina but Arsenal had the last word when one substitute, Joel Campbell, beat Nyom and crossed for another, Theo Walcott, to tap home.
Guardian