Arsenal got the win they needed to progress against Blackpool on Wednesday night, but it ended up being harder work than it could’ve been thanks to Matteo Guendouzi’s red card.
Arsenal never looked in much trouble before the 58th minute. For the first time in a long time, they had a lead at the half-time break, and they doubled it early on in the second half. Just when it seemed they’d breeze through to the quarter-finals, Guendouzi picked up a very soft second yellow and Blackpool pulled a goal back.
Thankfully, the team then dug in and got the win, with Blackpool also picking up a red card in the final minutes.
Let’s have a look at our individual player ratings for the match.
1Goalkeeper and Defence
Petr Cech 5.5
This should’ve been a relatively straight-forward game for Cech, but he wasn’t as confident in the air as usual, and almost gifted Blackpool an equaliser trying a Cruyff turn in his own box. Fortunately, he got lucky that Nathan Delfouneso was offside.
Cech will need to make a more convincing case to reclaim the Premier League spot from Bernd Leno in his next game.
Stephan Lichtsteiner 7.5
Lichtsteiner finally seems to be finding his feet in an Arsenal shirt. He took his goal nicely, and he looked much more comfortable out there than he has in much of the early part of the campaign. He didn’t have too much to do defensively on this occasion though.
Shkodran Mustafi 6.5
Generally, this was a decent performance, certainly better than the one against Crystal Palace. Once again though, he could’ve done much more for the goal Arsenal conceded. Like Cech, Mustafi might have a fight on his hands to get back into the starting XI now, with Holding and Sokratis seemingly set to take his place against Liverpool.
Julio Pleguezuelo 7.5
A very solid debut from the 21-year-old, more than five years in the making. He was composed on the ball, defended well, and even made one or two of his trademark marauding runs forward when space opened up for him. He had to deal with increased pressure with Arsenal going down to 10 men and did so without major trouble.
Carl Jenkinson 7
Jenkinson was making his first start at Arsenal for nearly two years, out of position, so he did very well under the circumstances. He made a lot of forward runs to support the attack, one of which led to Smith Rowe’s goal. Like Lichtsteiner, he didn’t have too much to do defensively, as Blackpool didn’t use the wings a whole lot.
Click ‘Next’ for the midfield, forwards and substitutes