— Zlatan Ibrahimovic comes off the bench to win it for Man-U and set up quarter-final with Chelsea
Arsenal saw off a determined Sutton United side 2-0 at Gander Green Lane in south London on Monday to book their place in the FA Cup quarter-finals.
The non-league side started strongly but fell behind before half-time when Lucas Perez struck. After the break, Theo Walcott fired in his 100th goal for the club to make the game safe.
Arsenal avoided an FA Cup giant-killing and spared manager Arsene Wenger further pressure with a hard-fought fifth-round victory over non-league Sutton United at Gander Green Lane.
Wenger made seven changes from the side thrashed 5-1 at Bayern Munich in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie - and his players had enough to see off a team 105 places below them on English football's ladder.
Lucas Perez's cross-shot gave Arsenal the lead after 26 minutes and Theo Walcott doubled the advantage from close range 10 minutes after the break with his 100th goal for the club.
Victory set up a home quarter-final with another National League side, Lincoln City, who beat Burnley on Saturday.
Sutton had their moments, particularly when Adam May wasted a first-half chance from keeper David Ospina's poor clearance, and Roarie Deacon's fierce 25-yard drive struck the bar in the second half.
The result may have gone against them but the hosts emerged from this tie, and this FA Cup run, with huge credit.
Blackburn 1-2 Manchester United
Zlatan Ibrahimovic comes off the bench to win it and set up quarter-final with Chelsea
Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored a late winner as holders Manchester United booked their place in the FA Cup quarter-finals with a 2-1 victory over Championship side Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s 24th goal of an increasingly productive season means that Manchester United’s pursuit of three knockout trophies remains extant.
As their boisterous supporters rammed into Ewood Park’s Darwen End insisted, they are on their way to Wembley.
For Blackburn Rovers, meanwhile, the immediate future is altogether more prosaic. On Friday they head to Burton Albion in pursuit of three points in the increasingly scrambled effort to remain in the Championship.
How things have changed. Twenty-three years ago when Blackburn entertained United it was to contest the Premier League title. Back then, Rovers made it their business to challenge football’s big-city cartels. Here, in this re-staging of old battles, the growing chasm between the two clubs was made clear by the nature of substitutes. In order to secure ultimate victory, United’s manager Jose Mourinho sent on the serial champion Ibrahimovic and the world’s most costly player, Paul Pogba.
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