City bury battling Boro as Arsenal shoot down Lincoln to make semis

LINCOLN City’s fairy-tale FA Cup run ended at the quarterfinal stage as Arsenal put aside their own problems to crush the fifthtier side 5-0 at the Emirates Stadium yesterday evening.

It took a labouring Arsenal until first-half stoppage time to take the lead through Theo Walcott but the 12-times winners made their superiority count after the break.

Olivier Giroud side-footed Arsenal’s second after 53 minutes and five minutes later Lincoln’s hopes were extinguished as their skipper Luke Waterfall turned in Kieran Gibbs’ cross into his own goal.

Alexis Sanchez, on from the start, added a classy fourth and Aaron Ramsey made it 5-0 to The Gunners.

Meanwhile, in an earlier game yesterday, Manchester City cruised into the FA Cup semifinals with a 2-0 victory at Middlesbrough as manager Pep Guardiola showed he is taking the competition seriously.

Goals from David Silva and Sergio Agüero at Riverside Stadium were scant reward for The Citizens as they outclassed

Sánchez, on from the start, added a classy fourth and Aaron Ramsey made it 5-0

The Boro, who must have feared such an outcome when they witnessed the team named by Guardiola.

Ominously for Middlesbrough, currently languishing in the relegation zone after failing to win any of their last 10 Premier League matches, all City’s world-class players were involved, despite the fact they face Ligue 1 giants AS Monaco in a decisive Champions League last-16 second leg on Wednesday.

City’s class soon surfaced as three of Guardiola’s big guns combined to open the scoring in the third minute.

Yaya Touré’s angled pass was headed back across goal by Pablo Zabaleta and any one of three players could have put the ball beyond goalkeeper Brad Guzan, with Silva applying the finishing touch.

Remarkably, the opening stages of the second half almost brought a replica of City’s goal.

This time, Kevin de Bruyne redirected identical Touré’s pass across the goal where Silva was waiting again, but this time he wastefully drove his shot over the bar.

City appeared in the mood to finish off Middlesbrough as Guzan was forced to make four fine saves in the space of 10 minutes, twice from Leroy Sané and also from Silva and Agüero, who finally found a way past the keeper in the 67th minute when he turned in Sané’s excellent cross for the second goal.

The remaining quarter of the match was all about Guzan as he saved superbly from Silva and Agüero, while Raheem Sterling had a goal disallowed for offside.

When Middlesbrough did create a rare chance for Fábio, it was cleared off the line by John Stones. —