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Arsenal 5-0 Leyton Orient: Five star performance provides perfect response

Arsenal responded to Sunday’s Carling Cup final defeat against Birmingham with a comprehensive 5-0 victory over Leyton Orient in the FA Cup fifth round.

A Nicklas Bendtner hat-trick, coupled with goals from Marouane Chamakh and Gael Clichy secured Arsenal’s passage into the quarter finals where they will play Manchester United at Old Trafford.

Teenage defender Ignasi Miquel made his first home appearance and 19-year-old winger Conor Henderson a senior debut.

Almunia
Eboue – Miquel – Squillaci – Gibbs
Diaby – Denilson – Rosicky
Bendtner – Chamakh – Henderson

Moroccan frontman Chamakh, deployed in Robin van Persie’s role at the spearhead of the attack, settled any early nerves when he put Arsenal ahead from close range.

Rosicky darted into the right side of the Orient box before cutting the ball back to the penalty spot, where Chamakh guided a shot into the bottom left corner to take his tally to 12.

Arsenal were on the offensive and doubled their lead on the half-hour when Bendtner sent Kieran Gibbs’ cross back into the top-left corner with a looping header from 12 yards.

It was 3-0 in the 43rd minute when Bendtner cut in from the left and curled a low strike into the far corner, for his sixth goal of the season. Free bets would have been offered on Bendtner scoring against League 1 opposition, especially as he’s done it while on loan at Birmingham several seasons ago.

Arsenal were awarded a penalty on 61 minutes when Gibbs was tripped by Revell.

Clichy came in for the final 24 minutes and drilled number five into the bottom corner for his first goal since November 2008 as Arsene Wenger’s men booked a mouth-watering clash against their Barclays Premier League title rivals at Old Trafford on March 12.

Post-Match Reaction

“It was a good response, we took the game in a serious way. It was good to win the game,” said Arsene Wenger

“We are in a fantastic run. On Sunday we lost a game in special circumstances.”

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