Late Ceballos goal sends Arsenal into FA Cup semi-finals

Arsenal reached their first domestic semi-final of the post-Arsene Wenger era as Sheffield United’s slump continued in the FA Cup with a 2-1 away win at Bramall Lane.

Prior to the curtailment of footballduetothecoronavirus pandemic,theBladesmayhave beenfavouritestoprogressbut they have been surprisingly poor since the resumption, now losing three of their four matches in all competitions.

Nicolas Pepe’s first-half penalty looked like it would be all that separated the sides but late drama saw David McGoldrick equalise, before substitute Dani Ceballos won it for the Gunners in injury time.

It saw Arsenal make a domestic cup semi-final for the first time since Wenger left the club in 2018 and keeps alive arguably the Gunners’ best chance of European footballnextseason,withtheirPremier League form suffering.

After a slow start to the match,theBladesthoughtthey had taken the lead after eight minutes following a period of pressure which yielded two corners.

John Lundstram headed into the net from virtually on the goal-line from the second of those corners after Oli McBurnie had nodded the ball back across goal but VAR correctly ruled it out for offside.

Arsenal finally grew into the tie but it was still against the run of play when they took the lead.

Chris Basham needlessly went through the back of Alexandre Lacazette in trying to pinch the ball from the Gunners striker just inside the area and Pepe made no mistake with the resulting penalty, firing his spot-kick hard into the bottom corner of the net.

The Blades regrouped at the break and began the second half well. Henderson’s wind-assisted goal kick almost embarrassed Martinez who, backpedalling frantically, had to help the ball over the crossbar, before the hosts had another goal ruled out for offside by VAR.

Wilder’ssidewerenotlackingendeavouroreffortbutthat little bit of quality in the final third of the pitch eluded them as they were unable to turn their second-half dominance into a goal.

However, they made the breakthrough their performance deserved with three minutes remaining as McGoldrick turned the ball home following another long throw.

The Blades’ first goal since football resumed looked like taking the tie into extra time but Ceballos rolled his shot beneath Henderson from a tight angletosendArsenalthrough.