DAN THE MAN
Sheff Utd 1 Arsenal 2: Gunners scrape through thanks to Ceballos injury-time winner after Blades spark late comeback
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DANI CEBALLOS sent Arsenal through to the FA Cup semi-final after a dramatic last-gasp winner.
Club record signing Nicolas Pepe opened the scoring, but only after submitting his entry for one of the misses of the season in the 1-0 defeat at Bramall Lane in October.
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But he delivered an assured finish from the penalty spot in the 25th minute to take the 13-time winners back to Wembley for the last four.
It was a good performance from Pepe, whose miss from six yards spelt the beginning of the end for Unai Emery.
Since then, Pepe has suffered a crisis in confidence and while Lille clearly saw Arsenal coming - and will still be in a state of shock after getting £72milion for him - he is a player still capable of flashes of quality.
The big question is whether he can become more consistent.
But in a hard-fought win, another of last summer’s signings, left wing-back Kieran Tierney, delivered an excellent performance and what a good addition he will prove to be.
As for the Blades, the break has done themselves no good and they appear to have run out of steam.
Yet you could understand why many would have put a few quid on a home win when you looked at the Arsenal team sheet.
It was no surprise that Matteo Guendouzi and Mesut Ozil failed to make the trip to Yorkshire but Mikel Arteta’s squad selection was odd.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang started on the bench and the captaincy was handed to his replacement Alexandre Lacazette rather than David Luiz.
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When you consider the players featuring in Arsenal’s defence, it was also strange to drop Rob Holding as was the team’s best defender in the 2-0 win at Southampton.
Just as baffling was the decision to play with a back three and use Ainsley Maitland-Niles as a wing-back, even though he has been exposed in that position and wants to play in midfield.
Arsenal avoided an early disaster when John Lundstram’s close-range shot in the eighth minute was ruled out for offside.
It was typical Arsenal defending as they failed to clear a simple corner and before VAR intervened, an unimpressed Sead Kolasinac exchanged words with David Luiz.
And despite rarely threatening, Lacazette was given a kick from behind by Chris Basham for the spot-kick and Pepe delivered a decent penalty into the corner.
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There did not seem that much contact but it was enough for Lacazette to need treatment before limping back onto the pitch after Pepe’s strike. It was, though, a soft penalty.
United lost Lundstram just after the half hour after he landed badly following a tackle from Joe Willock. The Arsenal player then needed treatment after a nasty-looking clash of heads with Oli McBurnie
A £25m signing from Celtic, Tierney had been causing the home team all sorts of problems and it was from one of his crosses that Pepe steered the ball wide.
It took over 40 minutes for United to manage a shot on target but Ollie Norwood’s effort was straight at Emi Martinez
The injured Luiz was replaced by Holding 10 minutes into the second half but Arsenal still struggled with United’s physical presence.
Dean Henderson launched a huge clearance and it nearly embarrassed Martinez as the wind gave the ball wings and it bounced on the ground before over the bar.
John Egan thought he had levelled but the linesman's flag had been up for a couple of seconds as Arsenal looked to hang on.
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But their defence was finally broken three minutes from time as David McGoldrick fired in a leveller.
Just as Arsenal looked to have blown their lead and place in the semi-final, Real Madrid loanee Ceballos popped up with a late winner.
The Spaniard picked up the ball, drove into the box and slotted past keeper Dean Henderson.
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