Fans light up the Emirates stands with their phones after the stadium's lighting became dimmed

Published: 25 January, 2014
by RICHARD OSLEY at the Emirates

FA Cup 4th round
ARSENAL 4, COVENTRY CITY 0

NOT too much Cup magic unfolded at the Emirates as Coventry City, a sort of rusting relic from the old days, failed to give Arsenal too many scares in a predictable fourth-round encounter.

It was a home banker from the moment Arsene Wenger decided to take few risks with team selection. Who can blame him for that when he is constantly reminded as to how many years it is since his club won a trophy?

And yet, in the end, despite a flattering four-goal scoreline, both sets of fans probably got what they wanted from this oddly-scheduled, tepid Friday-night fixture.

The Gunners lost nobody to injury or suspension, and came through with hardly a sweat, while Coventry were able to suck in some national attention for their stadium row worries and an awful back-story of being locked out of their own ground, the Ricoh Arena, as financial wrangles continue.

For a minute in both halves, the away fans stood with placards which simply said, "why?", and sang of how they wanted to go home. Arsenal supporters applauded in solidarity.

For a moment, albeit contrived, a little bit of football’s soul, lost in the time it has taken Coventry to switch from FA Cup winners themselves to a third-tier team, seemed to have been restored. You almost worried a goal might go in as the point was trying to be made.

Arsenal already had their lead though, and the urgency in the match sapped away from that first strike on 15 minutes when Lukasz Podolski was found unmarked, rounded the keeper and fired home.

Sneaking in untraced again later, he got the second as well with a backpost header. “A natural finisher,” said Wenger afterwards. “An unbelievable finisher.”

Coventry manager Steven Pressley said he was proud of his players too afterwards, and this was largely for the resistance that prevented Arsenal from scoring for fun, until very late on.

In fact, his team had the better chances in a lacklustre second half but were always lacking composure when the goal frame came near.

It was lacklustre though. Even a pitch invader, who stumbled over the hoardings from the away end, was lacklustre: there was no attempt to evade stewards, who simply ambled over and nabbed him without a chase.

More in the stands were enthralled by the curious passage played under dulled floodlights after one or two bulbs appeared to blow. Fans held up phone torches to make the stadium look more like a shimmering rock gig.

Beyond these little dramas, Nicklas Bendtner was wasteful in the frontman role, full of airkicks. His replacement, Olivier Giroud, scored with his first touch from Kieran Gibbs’ pull-back late on.

And there was time too for another sub, Santi Cazorla, to ram home a fourth as Coventry finally faded. Most of the crowd had left by then, the job done, a low-lying hurdle crossed. The third sub, however, needs a mention too: Gedeon Zelalem, making his debut at 16, is the first Arsenal player to play for Wenger who was born after the manager arrived at the club.

That’s something to make us all feel old.

ARSENAL: Fabianski, Gibbs, Jenkinson, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Wilshere, Oxlade-Chamberlain (Zelalem 71), Ozil, Gnabry, Podolski (Giroud 79), Bendtner (Cazorla 71).
Subs not used: Viviano, Monreal, Flamini, Sagna.

Attendance: 59,451