Teenager Willock claims double to deepen gloom at Blackpool
It was a long way from being a night of third-round magic in Blackpool, where Arsenal had the unusual experience of playing a team whose supporters mostly wanted their side to lose. Such is the apathy towards the despised ownership at Bloomfield Road that even the arrival of these swaggering Premier League giants did little to lessen the misery at a football club riddled with rage.
There were still more Blackpool fans here than Terry McPhillips’s side have grown used to in their usual League One fixtures, but the fact that they were outnumbered by the travelling crowd spoke volumes for the sort of atmosphere Arsenal were up against. A hostile away day, this was not.
Arsenal midfielder Joe Willock, aged 19, scored two first-half goals to quash any early hopes of an upset. By the time Alex Iwobi blasted home their third, this had long been finished as any sort of meaningful contest.
It is now more than three years since so many of the Blackpool supporters stopped attending matches, and the protests continued here against owner Owen Oyston, who has been ruled by the High Court to have “illegitimately stripped” the club of £27million after their promotion to the Premier League in 2010.
The high-profile nature of this game, and the presence of the TV cameras, provided a chance for the protesters to make their mark on a bigger scale. A couple of hundred gathered outside the stadium before kick-off, while a Blackpool fan was arrested for sitting on top of the Arsenal team bus outside their hotel for around 40 minutes. The delay meant that Arsenal had to take another bus to the ground.
“There was no change for us,” said Unai Emery, the Arsenal manager. “We know there are some problems here with the supporters and the team. We have respect for them – the supporters, the club, the team – and we prepared for the match with respect also for this competition.”
The impressive performances of some of Emery’s fringe players were indicative of the squad’s strength in depth, but he later said that the club were looking to sign a centre-back and a winger this month. Barcelona’s Denis Suarez, who worked under Emery at Sevilla earlier in his career, is a target although the manager refused to confirm his interest in the 24-year-old.
Arsenal teenagers Eddie Nketiah and Willock combined well in attack, although Nketiah missed three chances in the first half.
Willock was less wasteful, and his opener came when Aaron Ramsey’s deflected free-kick bounced back off a post, allowing the youngster to nod the ball into the empty net.
Willock soon made it two by tapping in at the back post after fine work by Carl Jenkinson down the right wing.
“We had lots of balls around their box but we didn’t do well enough,” McPhillips said. “I wanted us to get the next goal in the second half. That was the key, but we didn’t get it.”
They certainly did not. Having been so involved in the first goal, Ramsey turned provider again for Arsenal’s third. The Welshman’s shot was saved by substitute goalkeeper Christoffer Mafoumbi – who had replaced the injured Mark Howard – but Iwobi was there to blast it home.