Arsenal gained revenge for last week’s humiliating league defeat to Liverpool by reaching the quarter-finals of the FA Cup thanks to a Lukas Podolski strike. The Germany international notched his side’s second goal in a 2-1 victory over the 2005 Champions League winners at the Emirates Stadium.
A week on from being humbled 5-1 at Anfield in a potential Premier League title-decider, Arsenal exacted payback by booking their place in the FA Cup quarter-finals, where they will host the Reds’ rivals Everton on 8 or 9 March. Arsene Wenger’s men are now just two games away from reaching the final at London’s Wembley Stadium on 17 May. The Gunners last lifted England’s most famous domestic cup in 2005.
Podolski, named in the starting eleven along with Germany team-mates Per Mertesacker and Mesut Özil, found the net in the 47th minute with a powerful low shot from close range from Alex Oxlade-Chaberlain’s precise assist. Oxlade-Chamberlain had himself scored the opening goal for Arsenal on 17 minutes, while Liverpool were able to pull one back through Steven Gerrard’s penalty following a foul on Luis Suarez (59’).
Gomez returns
After five months out with injury, national team striker Mario Gomez finally made his long-awaited comeback at the weekend. The 28-year-old came off the bench in the 68th minute of Fiorentina’s home clash with direct rivals Inter Milan, but could not prevent La Viola from falling to a 2-1 defeat. His international team-mate Miroslav Klose, Germany’s joint-record scorer, also suffered disappointment on Sunday afternoon, playing the full 90 minutes in Lazio’s 3-1 loss at Catania, who move off the bottom of the table, with the capital club staying ninth.
It was only fourth-placed Fiorentina’s sixth Serie A defeat in their 24th game of the season, but their lead over Inter, fifth in the standings, is now down to just five points, with the Milanese club moving on to 39. Argentine duo Rodrigo Palacio (34’) and Mauro Emanuel Icardi (65’) grabbed the goals for Walter Mazzari’s men, with Colombian midfielder Juan Cuadrado’s equaliser just after the restart coming to no avail for the hosts.
Klose draws a blank, Mauri on target
Down in Sicily, Lazio struggled from the moment Mariano Izco opened the scoring for Catania. They did manage to bring themselves on level terms in first-half stoppage time through Stefano Mauri, but second-half efforts from Nicolas Spolli (49’) and Gino Peruzzi (58’) sealed the underdogs’ fourth victory of the season and Lazio’s eighth defeat of the campaign.
