Saka leads way as Arsenal moves into fifth round

LONDON: Arsenal teenager Bukayo Saka scored one goal and set up another as the Londoners sealed a place in the FA Cup fifth round with a 21 win over Bournemouth at Vitality Stadium yesterday.

Left back Saka and striker Eddie Nketiah netted inside 26 minutes as Arsenal’s much changed lineup made a dominant start and fought off a late rally

to secure a tie against thirdtier Portsmouth back on the south coast.

Saka (18) blasted the ball into the roof of the net from a tight angle after five minutes before his low cross provided a tapin for Nketiah, recalled this month from a loan spell at Leeds United.

Bournemouth’s Sam Surridge scored in the fourth minute of added time to set up a nervous finale for Mikel Arteta’s side but the home team could not find an equaliser and is left to focus on the battle for English Premier League survival.

Arsenal’s firsthalf performance was eyecatching, 22 passes leading up to Saka’s fine opening goal.

‘‘Mikel is trying to bring back the philosophy of the Arsenal way. We did that well in the first half, not so much in the second half,’’ Saka told BT Sport.

Bournemouth’s lastgasp goal gave it some hope, Simon Francis’ low cross eluding everybody and allowing Surridge (21) to score his first goal for the club after a loan spell at Swansea City.

‘‘We’re very disappointed. We gave it a good go in the end,’’ Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe said.

‘‘It was just a poor start. Tough first halfhour and we struggled to deal with their movement. But for the last 60 minutes we scrapped and almost got something in the end.’’ — Reuters