As expected, Arsenal dominated the opening exchanges. The hosts immediately acquired possession and looked to exert their superiority over Aitor Karanka's side. Middlesbrough were more than happy to allow Arsenal have the ball, as they sat deep and relied on springing counter-attacks upon the hosts, similar to their tactics in the previous round against Manchester City.

It didn't take long for Arsenal to create the first opportunity. A mere five minutes had been played but Cazorla stood over a free-kick with a menacing look. The little Spaniard curled the ball over the wall, but Mejias was equal to it as he dived to his left to tip the ball round for a corner.

Wenger's side continued to control the flow and tempo of the game, resulting in Middlesborough needlessly giving the ball away time and time again. Arsenal attempted to make the most of this but they too lost possession easily, much to the frustration of both managers.

Middlesborough continued to keep Arsenal's fearsome attacking lineup at bay. It took the hosts 27 minutes to breakdown the visitors resolute defence, the breakthrough finally came thanks to Olivier Giroud. Alexis Sanchez danced around the edge of the area before offloading to Santi Cazorla, who played a defence splitting pass to the advancing Kieran Gibbs. The left-back rolled the ball across the six-yard box and found the unmarked Giroud, and he slotted home with ease to give the Gunners the lead.

Giroud then grabbed his second of the game as the Frenchman doubled Arsenal's lead within minutes. The hosts won a corner and his darting run across the area meant that he was given an abundance of space for Santi Cazorla's set-piece. Middlesborough's defenders failed to mark the striker and he met the corner with the inside of his boot, glancing the ball inside the near post.

After the half-time break, Middlesborough came out with more adventure as they looked to half Arsenal's lead. However the host's defence, which included debutant Gabriel, adequately soaked up the minimal attacking threat Middlesborough provided.

Alexis Sanchez almost made it 3-0 shortly after the hour mark. Cazorla floated in a free-kick and the Chilean rose above everyone and headed towards goal, Mejias proceeded to get down to his left-hand side and produced a spectacular save to prevent Arsenal's in-form attacker.

The hosts then went on to create a number of half-opportunities, but were unable to make any of them count as the clock slowly ran down. Second-half substitute, Theo Walcott, had a glorious chance to seal the victory late on but was unable to take it. Another substitute, Tomas Rosicky played Walcott through, the attacker used his pace to break away from the Middlesborough defence, before scuffing his shot.

Despite there only being two minutes to play, the visitors found themselves with a late rally. Adomah had a 20-yard curler fly just wide of Szczesny's goal. Kike also went agonisingly close for Boro, he wriggled between Gabriel and Koscielny at the far-post, but his header hit the post.

Arsenal survived a late Middlesborough rally to advance to the quarter-finals. Arsene Wenger will be patiently awaiting the draw on Monday night, with a firm belief that his side can retain the trophy in May. It was too little, too late for Middlesborough, who were unable to recreate the giant killing that saw them advance past Manchester City in the previous round. Karanka will be fully focused on the league now, with Middlesborough currently laying in second in the Championship table in their bid for promotion.

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About the author
Jack Benson
Aspiring football journalist. Twitter: @_JackBenson