Today marks Arsenal’s 18th FA Cup final appearance and at times the road to the Wembley showpiece has had many bumps, twists and turns.
Throughout the FA Cup, however, Arsenal have been a very different team as they have found a way to win even if it is by just the odd goal and it all stems from a 2-0 win against Manchester City in the Premier League; this has given Arsenal a new way to play football.
Arsenal’s first match in the 2015 FA Cup was in the third round in a repeat of last year’s final against Hull and it was a 2-0 win for Arsenal with the goals coming from Per Mertesacker and Alexis Sanchez. Hull then tried to throw everything they could at Arsenal but the Gunners' defence was able to mop up all the Hull pressure and this would be the pattern throughout the road to the final.
Arsenal then had to travel to Brighton & Hove Albion on in the fourth round and Arsenal stormed into a three goal lead thanks to goals from Theo Walcott, Mesut Ozil and Tomas Rosicky but Brighton fought back and made it 3-2. Arsene Wenger's men showed a steely resilience to win this game and, when the pressure was turned up, the Arsenal defence fought tooth and nail to get the win to send Arsenal into the fifth round.
In the ffith round a tricky tie awaited the Gunners as they faced championship giant killers Middlesbrough and Arsenal came out on top with a 2-0 win but the most important thing in this game was the clean sheet.
Arsenal then had a tricky sixth round encounter with Manchester United and it was an intriguing game as United took the lead but this did not affect Arsenal in the slightest and the fought back to win 2-1 and it is this determination that has helped Arsenal’s form drastically improve in 2015.
The display in the semi-final was one of sheer frustration as Arsenal found it tough to break down a resilient Reading defence but one player took the game by the scruff of the neck, and that was Alexis Sanchez as he took Arsenal to their second straight FA Cup final.