Theo Walcott scored his 100th Arsenal goal as Arsene Wenger’s side ended non-league minnows Sutton United’s FA Cup fairytale with a 2-0 victory in the FA Cup on Monday (Feb 20).

Sutton United’s Craig Eastmond falls to the ground after a challenge from Arsenal’s Nacho Monreal during the English FA Cup fifth round football match at the Borough Sports Ground, Gander Green Lane, in south London. (Glyn KIRK/AFP)

The England forward added to Lucas Perez’s opener as Arsenal returned to winning ways following their 5-1 drubbing by Bayern Munich last week and set up a home quarter-final with another non-league team, Lincoln City.

But the narrow margin of victory belied the 105 places that separate the two teams in England’s football pyramid, with Sutton currently 17th in the fifth-tier National League.

“We did the job,” Arsenal manager Wenger told BBC Sport. “It was not an easy game at all. We have to give them credit because every error we made they took advantage of on this pitch. They played very well.”

South London club Sutton had hoped to emulate their famous 1989 win over Coventry City, FA Cup winners 19 months previously, but there was no disgrace in defeat in their first ever fifth-round game.

Arsenal were given several uncomfortable moments on the 3G pitch at Sutton’s 5,000-capacity Gander Green Lane ground, which was full to bursting with fans in yellow Sutton T-shirts, hats and scarves.

The home supporters almost had a goal to cheer as well, but Roarie Deacon, who began his career at Arsenal, saw his 25-yard effort cannon back off the bar in the second half.

“It was a dream to watch my team play against Arsenal. I’m very, very proud,” said Sutton manager Paul Doswell. “This was our cup final and these players will go down in history at the end of the day.”

Wenger will continue to face questions about his future but, for now at least, his dream of winning a record seventh FA Cup remains intact.

He made seven changes to the team humiliated by Bayern in the Champions League, with only goalkeeper David Ospina, Shkodran Mustafi, Granit Xhaka and Alex Iwobi keeping their places.

For all the international players in Arsenal’s ranks, there was no distinct gap in quality between the sides in the early exchanges as the visitors slowly got to grips with the unfamiliar surface.

Arsenal’s first shot, a Mohamed Elneny effort that sailed miles off-target, drew hoots of derision from the home fans, but in the 26th minute the visitors went ahead.

HOLDING CARELESS

Perez swapped passes with Xhaka and then cut in onto his left foot from the right flank before sending in a skidding low cross that evaded everyone to nestle in the bottom-left corner.

Briefly, Arsenal threatened to make their experience count, with Nacho Monreal drawing a smothering save from Sutton goalkeeper Ross Worner and both Walcott and Alex Iwobi going close.

But Arsenal’s over-confidence at the back twice almost gifted Sutton an equaliser.

Rob Holding nearly had his pocket picked on the edge of his own box and shortly before half-time Ospina passed the ball straight to Sutton’s Adam May, who fired wide with his left foot.

An overhit Holding back-pass that sent Ospina scrambling had Arsenal’s fans holding their breath again within seconds of kick-off in the second half.

They gave themselves breathing space in the 55th minute, however, when Monreal crossed low from the left and Walcott turned in his milestone goal from close range.

But if Arsenal thought their second goal would put the game to bed, they were mistaken as Sutton produced their best spell of the game.

Maxime Biamou shot straight at Ospina, captain Jamie Collins powered a header over the bar at a corner and Deacon, the ex-Arsenal trainee, cracked a shot against the crossbar from distance.

The closing stages yielded the surreal sight of Arsenal’s Chilean star Alexis Sanchez, one of the world’s most feared forwards, making his entrance as a replacement for Iwobi.

“Who are ya?” chanted Sutton’s fans, their sense of mischief intact until the end.

FA Cup quarter-final draw:

Chelsea vs Manchester United
Middlesbrough vs Huddersfield/Manchester City
Tottenham Hotspur vs Millwall
Arsenal vs Lincoln

Ties to be played on Mar 10/13

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Barcelona needed a last minute Lionel Messi penalty to see off lowly Leganes 2-1 as a poor week for the Spanish champions continued on Sunday (Feb 19).

Barcelona’s Argentinian forward Lionel Messi shoots a penalty kick to score a goal during the Spanish league football match against CD Leganes at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona. (Josep Lago/AFP)

Barca were thrashed 4-0 by Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday to leave their Champions League hopes hanging by a thread and had to rely on Messi for snatching all three points from another below par display.

The Argentine opened the scoring after just four minutes, but Leganes enjoyed the better of the chances and levelled 19 minutes from time through Unai Lopez.

However, Messi ensured Barca did move back up to second in La Liga and close to within a point of leaders Real Madrid, who have two games in hand, from the spot after Neymar had been chopped down inside the area.

“We knew it would be a difficult game given what we have come from and what happened in the Champions League,” Barca boss Luis Enrique told Spanish TV station Movistar.

“It is clear that in some moments we lacked confidence, but I think the team turned around a difficult game in any way we could. This time it was a penalty, but, given how we are at the moment, that is more than welcome.”

Leganes remain just two points above the relegation zone as their winless run extends to 13 games.

Barca looked set for an easy night when Luis Suarez found space in behind the Leganes defence and his pinpoint cross with the outside of his right foot picked out Messi to tap home early on.

Instead, Barca were thankful to a series of brilliant saves by Marc-Andre ter Stegen for keeping Leganes at bay.

The German denied former Liverpool winger Nabil El Zhar in a one-on-one before flying low to his left to parry El Zhar’s follow-up effort.

El Zhar came close again with the last action of the first-half as this time his shot from the edge of the area was deflected and forced Ter Stegen into a fine reflex stop.

However, for all his good work, Ter Stegen was at fault when Leganes did deservedly level as Lopez’s effort from the edge of the area flew in between his legs.

BARCA BOOED

The equaliser was met with a chorus of boos by the lowest La Liga attendance at the Camp Nou this season.

And there was an even angrier reception for the much maligned Andre Gomes when he was replaced by Andres Iniesta moments later.

“For me jeering a player on your own team makes no sense,” added Enrique.

And Ter Stegen called for unity among the Barcelona faithful. “We need the fans, above all at home, to support us. We can win or lose together, but the most important thing is that we are united.”

Leganes had held out with relative ease until Neymar took matters into his own hands with a driving run into the area before he was wiped out by Martin Mantovani.

Messi stepped up and fired into the top corner, but tellingly the Argentine didn’t celebrate leaving his displeasure with Barca’s performances over the past week clear.

Leganes still had a late chance to level as El Zhar sent another fierce effort flying inches wide.

Earlier, Villarreal kept their hopes of Champions League football next season alive as Samu Castillejo’s 93rd minute winner secured a vital 1-0 win at Real Sociedad.

Just a second win of 2017 takes sixth-placed Villarreal to within two points of Sociedad and six of Atletico Madrid in fourth.

Valencia moved seven points clear of the relegation zone with a much-needed 2-0 win over Athletic Bilbao.

Nani opened the scoring early on before on-loan Juventus striker Simone Zaza broke down in tears after netting his first goal since May.

Spanish La Liga results:

Real Sociedad 0 Villarreal 1
Valencia 2 Athletic Bilbao 0
Celta Vigo 3 Osasuna 0
Barcelona 2 Leganes 1

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Paul Pogba and Zlatan Ibrahimovic combined to score the winning goal that carried Manchester United through to the FA Cup quarter-finals in a 2-1 win at Blackburn Rovers.

Manchester United’s striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic (R) celebrates with teammates after scoring their second goal during the English FA Cup fifth round football match against Blackburn Rovers. (AFP/Oli SCARFF)

United will face Chelsea in a mouthwatering last-eight tie at Stamford Bridge next month as victory maintained Jose Mourinho’s interest in all four competitions in which his side have competed this season.

The FA Cup holders were facing the prospect of an unwanted replay after Marcus Rashford equalised Danny Graham’s opening goal for the Championship side which prompted Mourinho to bring the high-profile pair off the bench early in the second half.

On 75 minutes the gamble paid off as Pogba, from just inside his half, played a pass for Ibrahimovic to chase.

The Swedish striker timed his run to perfection, avoiding the offside trap before coolly rolling his 24th goal of the season into the corner of the net from six yards.

There was almost a dramatic late equaliser for Rovers after Sergio Romero spilled a shot from Connor Mahoney, recovered to keep out Marvin Emnes’ rebound then saw Anthony Stokes tap the ball in only to be flagged offside.

Earlier, Blackburn had taken the lead through a superbly-executed 17th minute move that even had Mourinho sportingly applauding from his position in the United technical area.

Emnes carved out the opening with a strong run and skilful move past Marcos Rojo before he slipped through a brilliant pass for team mate Graham who beat Romero with a superb left-foot finish.

It was the first goal conceded by United in 471 minutes of league and cup football and Graham, a journeyman 31-year-old with the 13th club of his career, threatened to join the list of this weekend’s FA Cup heroes.

RASHFORD REPLIES

But United had other ideas and took just 10 minutes to draw level as Henrikh Mkhitaryan, continuing his impressive form over the second half of the season, sent Rashford racing away with a magnificent pass from around halfway.

His speedy team-mate chased onto the ball and calmly rounded goalkeeper Jason Steele before converting into an open net.

Just before the opening goal, Emnes had already tested United’s stand-in goalkeeper with a 25-yard shot that Romero handled easily.

And before half-time a long pass from Charlie Mulgrew picked out Craig Conway who held off full-back Ashley Young before firing over from a promising position.

But United were also making use of the space that was beginning to appear in the home defence.

An Ander Herrera free-kick picked out Jesse Lingard although his header lacked the power to trouble Steele.

Herrera was also responsible for a defence-splitting pass which allowed Lingard a shot, which was blocked before Herrera himself tested Steele with a follow-up effort that was well saved.

Mkhitaryan tried his luck with a couple of long-range shots that came to nothing and Herrera wasted a free-kick from a dangerous position by passing directly to an opponent in the Blackburn area.

The second period largely failed to live up to the excitement of the first as United enjoyed plenty of possession without finding a way to successfully pick a hole in the home defence.

By the hour mark, and presumably desperate to avoid a replay, Mourinho threw Pogba and Ibrahimovic into the action and the pair almost gave United the lead within a minute.

Pogba’s pass to Herrera allowed the midfielder to send over a low cross to the far post where Ibrahimovic slid in and narrowly missed making contact for what would have been a certain goal.

There was a similar chance at the other end, with Liam Feeney’s cross from the right just evading Emnes as he tried to make contact with Romero beaten.

Draw for FA Cup quarter-finals:

Chelsea vs Manchester United
Middlesbrough vs Huddersfield/Manchester City
Tottenham Hotspur vs Millwall
Sutton United/Arsenal vs Lincoln

Ties to be played on Mar 10/13

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The 23-year-old England striker, who took his tally to 19 for the season, ended a difficult week for Spurs and manager Mauricio Pochettino on a winning note following defeats by Liverpool in the league and then Belgian outfit Gent in the Europa League last 32 first leg.

Tottenham Hotspur’s striker Harry Kane (R) scores his and Tottenham Hotspur’s second goal past Fulham’s goalkeeper Marcus Bettinelli (C) during the English FA Cup fifth round football match at Craven Cottage in London. (Glyn KIRK/AFP)

Pochettino’s team selection reflected his desire for a positive result as he started with Kane, Dele Alli, Victor Wanyama and Christian Eriksen whilst bringing back Belgian central defender Jan Vertonghen for his first start since injuring an ankle last month.

“We had to recover the right feeling after two defeats,” said Pochettino. “We had to believe in the way we work and play and that is what is important. We had lost that a little bit.”

Kane said the margin should have been bigger. “We played very well and probably should have had a few more goals,” he said. “I thought the manager was going to take me off soon but fortunately I was able to sneak the third one in.”

Spurs, watched by Chelsea boss Antonio Conte and former Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew, started brightly with Eriksen – set up by a neat header on by Alli – forcing Marcus Bettinelli into a fine save in the fifth minute.

Kane slotted home the opener on the quarter hour from an excellent cross by Eriksen after Kieran Trippier had done well to spy Fulham left-back Scott Malone was out of position and found Eriksen with his throw-in.

Spurs goalkeeper Michel Vorm – who replaces number one Hugo Lloris for the FA Cup games – almost gifted Fulham an equaliser with a sloppy kick out of his area and with him out of his goal.

However, he recovered quickly enough to save Tom Cairney’s goalbound effort.

Spurs should have gone 2-0 up when Kane found Eriksen inside the penalty area but the Dane’s first touch let him down and he blasted over the bar.

Fulham had been a bit lacklustre but finished the first half on a brighter note with Stefan Johansen firing just wide and then Sone Aluko’s curling effort being safely gathered by Vorm.

However, the same combination for the opener combined again for the killer second as Trippier located Eriksen, whose superb cross was converted by Kane.

Fulham manager Slavisa Jokanovic had seen enough and sent on 16-year-old sensation Ryan Sessegnon – who had scored in both previous rounds.

Kane sealed his hat-trick in the 73rd minute by running onto a superb pass by Alli and rifling the ball past Bettinelli – the striker was then immediately removed with the second leg against Gent to come on Thursday.

Draw for FA Cup quarter-finals:

Chelsea vs Manchester United
Middlesbrough vs Huddersfield/Manchester City
Tottenham Hotspur vs Millwall
Sutton United/Arsenal vs Lincoln

Ties to be played on Mar 10/13

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Granada made La Liga history by naming a team of 11 different nationalities as on loan Borussia Dortmund striker Adrian Ramos scored twice in a 4-1 thrashing of Real Betis on Friday.

Just a third win of the season moves Granada to within two points of safety, although they remain 19th, whilst Betis stay eight points above the drop zone in 13th.

Three goals in a 15-minute first half spell put Granada well in command as Mehdi Carcela opened the scoring before Ramos netted his first Granada goal and Manchester United loanee Andreas Pereira made it 3-0.

Ramos only joined Granada in January ahead of a move to Chinese club Chongqing Dangdai Lifan at the end of the season because both clubs are owned by Chinese businessman John Jiang.

However, the Colombian international could have a vital role to play in keeping Granada up as he finished off a sweeping counter-attack for the hosts’ fourth before Petros registered a consolation for Betis.

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Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola warned on Friday (Feb 17) that teen sensation Gabriel Jesus could be out of action for up to three months and might not play again until next season.

The 19-year-old Brazil striker, who has scored three goals in five games since joining City in the January transfer window, broke a bone in his foot during City’s 2-0 win away to Bournemouth in the Premier League on Monday.

“He’s coming back when he is fit,” Guardiola told a news conference on Friday. “I don’t know if it will be the end of this season or next season … His recovery is between two and three months.”

City paid Brazilian club Palmeiras an initial £27 million (US$33 million) for Jesus.

The striker scored at West Ham United and twice against Swansea City and Jesus was hoping to become the third City player – after Emmanuel Adebayor and Kevin De Bruyne – to score on each of his first three Premier League starts.

But he lasted just 15 minutes at south-coast side Bournemouth’s Dean Court ground before going off injured.

Jesus had an operation on the damaged metatarsal in Barcelona on Thursday, and is expected to spend some of his recovery time back home in Sao Paulo.

There remains a chance he could return before the end of the current campaign, but Guardiola made it clear he will not rush the forward back into first-team action.

“So last night, there was an operation,” Guardiola said Friday. “It was good, really good. The important thing is a good recovery.

“He’s coming back when he is fit. I don’t know if it will be the end of this season or next season. Now we’re giving all our support to him and his family and waiting for him to come back.”

Asked if that meant there was a chance that Jesus would not be back this season, Guardiola added: “I don’t know. His recovery is between two and three months.”

‘AGUERO QUALITY’

Jesus’s injury means Sergio Aguero is set to be pushed into the central attacking role when City welcome Monaco to Eastlands in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie on Tuesday.

Aguero has been left out of the starting line-up for City’s last three league matches, which has cast doubt on his long-term future at the club, even though he has a contract until 2020.

Guardiola said a week ago he wanted the Argentina international to stay, but also indicated there was no guarantee that would happen.

The City manager, however, has been impressed with the way Aguero has pushed to get back into the starting line-up since being dropped.

“From the beginning of the season, not just in these three games, Sergio has always played more than well,” said Guardiola.

“He showed that when he came on against Swansea, or against Bournemouth after the injury to Gabriel,” the Spanish manager explained.

“He came in and played well, and was involved in the second goal. I don’t have doubts about his quality, because it was always there.”

Before the Monaco match, City travel to Championship promotion contenders Huddersfield Town in the fifth round of the FA Cup on Saturday.

Guardiola is expected to rest several key players to keep them fresh for Champions League action, but remained quiet on whether Claudio Bravo would get a recall in goal.

Bravo was dropped in favour of Willy Caballero last month after a poor run of form, but asked who would be his goalkeeper at the John Smith’s Stadium, the manager said: “I am going to decide tomorrow.”

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A late equaliser from Suso secured a share of the points as AC Milan relaunched their Europa League bid with a precious 1-1 draw at Lazio on Monday (Feb 13).

Lazio’s midfielder from Argentina Lucas Biglia (R) celebrates after scoring a penalty next to AC Milan’s goalkeeper from Italy Gianluigi Donnarumma (L). (AFP/ANDREAS SOLARO)

Lazio, fighting for a top three finish in a tightly-contested Serie A, looked to be heading for a second successive win after their 6-2 romp at Pescara after Lucas Biglia put the hosts ahead on the stroke of half-time.

But Simone Inzaghi’s men were stunned five minutes from the end at a near empty Stadio Olimpico when Suso cut in from the right to curl a superb shot past Tomas Strakosha in the Lazio net at the keeper’s far post.

Inzaghi saw the glass half full but admitted the result should have been different.

“I’m very proud of what I saw. We should easily have won this game but sometimes you just don’t hit the net,” said Inzaghi.

“In the end a great goal from Suso secured a draw which, for me, wasn’t deserved.”

Milan had ended a recent three-game losing run with a come-from-behind win at Bologna in midweek, and this result has kept Vincenzo Montella’s men in the fight for a Europa League place.

Milan remain in seventh, 19 points behind leaders Juventus and 10 points behind Napoli in third.

“We will do everything we can to try and qualify for the Europa League,” Suso told Mediaset.

“They did well to score when they did, but we came back into it in the second half. They only got chances after we were attacking. But it’s a precious point for us.”

Lazio are in sixth, three points further ahead although the Biancocelesti could have made the difference in a promising first half, that nonetheless started ominously.

Goalkeeper Federico Marchetti injured his knee in the warm-up, and 21-year-old Tomas Strakosha had to step in.

The first chance fell to Lazio, but Ciro Immobile flicked a nod-on from a corner wide at the back post.

Teenaged Milan ‘keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma did well to push Biglia’s half-volley away, the 17-year-old also saving the rebound.

Immobile headed wide from a Marco Parolo cross and saw one penalty claim waved away after a challenge from Gustavo Gomez, before firing wide under pressure from Ignazio Abate.

Donnarumma then blocked Wesley Hoedt’s effort from close range while at the other end Strakosha was called into action to smother a low shot from Lucas Ocampos.

Lazio took the lead in timely fashion, Immobile winning a penalty with a great touch that prompted the onrushing Donnarumma to send the Italy forward sprawling.

Donnarumma was furious but rightly the penalty stood and Biglia stepped up to beat the keeper down low to his right.

Milan thwarted efforts by Felipe Anderson, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Immobile in the second half and the hosts were eventually made to pay for their profligacy.

Montella’s men began to find their stride and Strakosha had to be at full stretch to palm away a Jose Sosa free-kick late one.

The ‘keeper was left clutching at thin air in the 85th minute when Suso collected inside the area, controlled and curled the ball into the far corner to secure a share of the points.

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