Arsenal came from behind to beat Hull City 2-1 at Emirates Stadium to set up an FA Cup semi-final clash with Chelsea.
Van Persie & Gallas deny brave Tigers
Arsenal came from behind to beat Hull City 2-1 at Emirates Stadium to set up an FA Cup semi-final clash with Chelsea.
Hull threatened a major shock when former Tottenham man Nick Barmby fired the visitors in front after 13 minutes when his deflected shot looped over Lukasz Fabianski.
Arsenal laid siege to Hull's goal in search of an equaliser and they drew level on 74 minutes when Robin van Persie blasted the ball into an unguarded net after Andrey Arshavin unselfishly squared the ball to the Dutchman six yards from goal.
The home side grabbed the winner six minutes from time with a controversial effort from William Gallas.
Gallas appeared to be in an offside position when he headed home from close-range, after Johan Djourou had initially flicked the ball over Boaz Myhill towards goal.
Hull, though, had clearly not read the script as they snatched the lead on 13 minutes when an angled shot from Barmby - who later had a goal ruled out for a marginal offside decision - saw his shot deflected up off Djourou and spun over Fabianski.
The young Polish goalkeeper - given a chance to impress in the cups ahead of regular number one Manuel Almunia - was at full stretch to tip over a free-kick from Geovanni, who smashed a superb strike here during the Tigers' league win here in September.
Arshavin's angled drive was diverted past the near post by Anthony Gardner but Hull remained dangerous with a header from Kamil Zayatte dropping on the roof of the net.
As half-time loomed, only a sliding block from Samuel Ricketts prevented Arshavin drilling in Walcott's low cross, then the Russian flashed a right-foot volley across the face of goal.
In the second half Abou Diaby's header from a corner bounced just inches the wrong side of the post, Arshavin had another close-range effort blocked, then Djourou's header was cleared off the line - with Alex Song hooking the loose ball wide.
Referee Mike Riley's patience finally wore out with Hull's time-wasting, and he cautioned goalkeeper Myhill for moving the ball at a free-kick.
Van Persie then forced the Hull keeper into a full stretch save from his bending, 25-yard free-kick before seeing a looping header hit the top of the bar with Myhill beaten.
The equaliser came through van Persie with 16 minutes left. Substitute Nicklas Bendtner's persistence in the penalty area paid off when he stabbed the ball across to Arshavin, who pulled it back to the penalty spot for the Dutchman to score.
Bendtner had a close-range shot blocked behind by Ricketts but Arsenal won it with six minutes to go when Gallas - stripped of the captaincy by Wenger earlier in the campaign after publicly questioning the young team's battling qualities - nodded in, from an offside decision.
| Arsenal |
Team Statistics |
Hull City |
| 2 |
Goals |
1 |
| 0 |
1st Half Goals |
1 |
| 8 |
Shots on Target |
2 |
| 11 |
Shots off Target |
4 |
| 9 |
Blocked Shots |
0 |
| 13 |
Corners |
2 |
| 13 |
Fouls |
19 |
| 3 |
Offsides |
2 |
| 2 |
Yellow Cards |
6 |
| 0 |
Red Cards |
0 |
| 85.3 |
Passing Success |
64.6 |
| 11 |
Tackles |
15 |
| 90.9 |
Tackles Success |
86.7 |
| 68.3 |
Possession |
31.7 |
| 57.5 |
Territorial Advantage |
42.5 |
|
