Arsenal make wasteful Leeds pay the price to reach FA Cup fourth round

Arsenal made Leeds pay for their profligacy with a host of wasted first-half chances to reach the FA Cup fourth round with a 1-0 victory on Monday thanks to Reiss Nelson’s winner.

Leeds will hope more regular visits to the Emirates are in store as they top the Championship and showed why by dominating the first 45 minutes.

However, Patrick Bamford struck the bar, while Arsenal stand-in goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez made smart saves to deny Jack Harrison and Ezgjan Alioski.

Arsenal improved markedly after the break and secured back-to-back wins for new manager Mikel Arteta when Nelson bundled home from close range 10 minutes into the second half.

Arteta made just four changes to the side that beat Manchester United 2-0 on New Year’s Day to kickstart his reign, although captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang missed out through illness.

But the Gunners looked more like the lacklustre outfit that preceded Arteta’s arrival this season in the early stages as Leeds stroked the ball around confidently.

On-loan Manchester City winger Harrison twice stung the palms of Martinez either side of Bamford’s strike coming back off the woodwork.

Alioski then forced the best save of all from the Argentine as he met a teasing Harrison cross at the back post.

Arteta’s half-time team talk roused a response from Arsenal as Alexandre Lacazette also hit the crossbar from a free-kick.

Lacazette was captain for the night in Aubameyang’s absence and led from the front after the break as he also had a hand in the winner.

The Frenchman was played in by Nicolas Pepe and his deflected cross found its way to Nelson to convert just his second Arsenal goal.

Nelson was then replaced by another talented youngster in Gabriel Martinelli, who came closest to adding to Arsenal’s lead with a low shot that was well saved by Illan Meslier.

However, one goal was enough to secure the Gunners a fourth round trip to Bournemouth.

Meanwhile, the FA Cup third round used to have pride of place among the showpiece dates of the English football calendar, but a weekend of empty stands and much-changed teams showed there appears to be little romance left for the cup.

After a gruelling festive fixture schedule saw four rounds of Premier League games crammed into 13 days either side of Christmas and new year, managers from the 20 top flight teams made a combined 136 changes. Crystal Palace, Brighton and Aston Villa were the only Premier League sides to pay the penalty for resting first-team regulars against Championship opposition with even many of the sides further down the pyramid taking the chance to rotate.

The 24 Championship sides made 171 alterations to their starting line-ups.

Many fans also took the opportunity for a weekend break from football with attendances for Premier League and Championship clubs down over 150,000 on their previous home matches.

Cardiff narrowly avoided their lowest ever attendance since moving to the 33,000 capacity Cardiff City Stadium over a decade ago.

Just 5,828 saw Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Carlisle with only one of the four stands even opened.

“I think the amount of fixtures in the schedule over this period makes it very difficult for supporters to support every single game,” said Cardiff manager Neil Harris. He was not alone in calling for a change to the schedule if the cup is to be revived.

After a gruelling December in which his side played nine games across four different competitions, Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp made nine changes as the youthful Reds still inflicted more Merseyside derby pain on Everton with a 1-0 win at Anfield.

Agencies