FA Cup - Van Persie fires Arsenal to win

Eurosport - Sun, 04 Jan 08:18:00 2009

Robin van Persie fired Arsenal to a 3-1 FA Cup third-round win over Plymouth Argyle at the Emirates Stadium.

FOOTBALL 2008-2009 FA Cup Arsenal B Arsenal-Plymouth Van Persie - 0

The Netherlands striker opened the scoring with a header just after the second-half restart.

The hosts were quickest out of the blocks after an indifferent first half which saw genuine chances few and far between.

On loan-Manchester United defender David Gray doubled Arsenal's advantage three minutes later when he turned past his own keeper as Nicklas Bendtner stretched to convert Aaron Ramsey's centre.

Plymouth captain Karl Duguid bundled one back on 53 minutes after Arsenal failed to clear a corner, but Van Persie hammered an 84th-minute strike in off the crossbar after keeper Romain Larrieu parried his initial lob.

Arsenal could have extended their lead further with Samir Nasri, Keiran Gibbs and Abou Diaby foiled by Larrieu and the woodwork.

Argyle came close to a late goal when Steven MacLean forced a good stop from Lukasz Fabianski, but Arsenal were in control and held on for a comfortable win in the end.

Reda Maher / Eurosport

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  1. Ogoyeg, you are right, this is not a dating website. This is for serious bussiness and that is soccer. Try your luck elsewhere on this website we are all happy (whether single or married) and have one laguage soccer and Not Love!!!!

    From Henderson, on Mon 5 Jan 12:47PM

  2. Hi "daivibixian08" ! Talk to Ryan Giggs. Him and Paul Scholes like Drag Queens like you. Furthermore, at the Trafford, everyone is just not getting it. Try your luck there.
    We the Gunners don't have a place for you!

    From ogoyeg, on Sun 4 Jan 9:30PM

  3. I agree Arsenal will not win any cup unless they beef up the squad mostly defence and midfield. Shame on Manchester City and Chelsea. They seem not to care much on the big monies the owners are spending on these guys. Are the players doing it purposely to have their managers fired or it is the incompetence of the managers themselves. Can someone explain please. This only shows how good Wenger and Alex and the Spanish at Liverpool (whats his name?) are (Old wine)

    From Henderson, on Sun 4 Jan 1:52PM

  4. Its clear to most discerning football fans that arsenal ca not win any trophy with their current squad, they lack talent in critical areas, andd have no depth in their reserves. To make matters worse, the borad and manager have no intention to strengthen the squad. For all those saying arsenal will win the FA cup or premiership, pls tell me can the following players make any of our key rivals 1st 16, Denilson, song, diaby, djourou, silvestre, almunia and Bendtner? And these are the players we use regularly, o we really lack depth, and the coming players; wiltshire etc..will take at least 5 years to matureso can we say 10 years before another trophy?

    From akinremi, on Sun 4 Jan 9:54AM

  5. always on top arsenal....................................

    From adebayo p, on Sun 4 Jan 4:33AM

  6. Post 16 : Miles Off? What happened to your eyes?
    Its 10 pts and done w/o eduardo, walcott, rosicky, cesc etc.
    Some arsenal fans are jus plain blind and lost.

    Post 31 : Have u ever qualified for CL, won the PL in the last 10 yrs? Your come on is definitely needed.

    From phantasmal.rm, on Sun 4 Jan 3:02AM

  7. TO POST 12, THE ONLY CUP YOU WILL WIN THIS YEAR IS THE ONE IN THE KITCHEN,OR THE TIN CUP AT GOLF,I UNDERSTAND A LOT OF THE ARSENAL PLAYERS PLAY GOLF BETTER THAN THEY DO FOOTBALL,ITS SAD REALLY,ANOTHER YEAR WITHOUT A TROPHY, AND NOT EVEN QUALIFYING FOR THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE NEXT SEASON.COME ON YOU SPURS.

    From jim, on Sun 4 Jan 2:21AM

  8. big phil 4 england

    From boniface, on Sun 4 Jan 1:37AM

  9. Van Persie obviously has some skill in the footballing department, but, when he scores a goal, why does he always run away bearing the expression of someone who's just stolen a young girls panties?

    From cantonaldobest, on Sun 4 Jan 12:58AM

  10. well done plymouth u did us guys proud

    From aaron b, on Sun 4 Jan 12:01AM

  11. go arsenal

    From zahirbats, on Sat 3 Jan 11:53PM

  12. Go on arsenal!!

    From mussaleonard, on Sat 3 Jan 11:39PM

  13. Post 23, you assumed it is a girl :-) Assumption is the mother of all ...

    From Half A Brain, on Sat 3 Jan 10:19PM

  14. yes! great player van persie, nice 2 goals! come on gunners we can win the f.A cup if we keep getting wins like that.

    From CATHERINE, on Sat 3 Jan 9:18PM

  15. This is message from Luiz Felipe Scolari: Post #21 - You are crazy my friend ehh this is woman I ehh very much like to ehh meet and ehh force to have hump time with me and ehh to all Gunner supporters ehhh I will be sarcasm right now and say that ehhh your team accomplish something so great by ehh winning at home ehhh...oh, right.

    With much love,
    Big Phil

    From gene_hackman_stunt_double, on Sat 3 Jan 8:35PM

  16. ye please block him cos its gettin annoyin

    From J Bails, on Sat 3 Jan 8:31PM

  17. please CAN U BLOCK THE SPAM SENT BY TALLHUB (THE SO CALLED US OPEN MINDED GIRL)? They are posting under every column.

    From BMI, on Sat 3 Jan 8:15PM

  18. Van Persie is world class when he is fit, and currently he is! Bring in Xavi Alonso, or Yaya Toure to Strengthen the Middle of the Park, and get Kolo up and running before its too late!

    From The Heat, on Sat 3 Jan 8:13PM

  19. weel done today i think you can go all the way and win the fa cup please now buy good strong players to boost the squad

    From Donna, on Sat 3 Jan 7:56PM

  20. yeh this makes us the best team in the world ever! chelsea are rubbish cos they didn't win their fa cup game (sense my sarcasm) god i'm a gooner and even i can tell that you lot are dull if you think what i've just said is in any way true! so we beat a championship side who all go fishing as a team bonding session, and chelsea didn't beat a similar side who go shrimping? this doesn't detract from the fact that we are miles off liverpool and that villa have our place in the top four!

    From Paddy, on Sat 3 Jan 7:43PM
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