Arsenal will play Manchester City at home in the FA Cup semi-final having beaten non-league Lincoln City 5-0 at The Emirates in Saturday’s late kick-off.
The Gunners, after an early battle with this season’s feel good story, made easy work of the Imps as they tired in the second half, leaving tantalising possibilities for the last four tie.
With Chelsea facing fierce rivals Tottenham, the Gunners could face their North London rivals in the final should they both win their semi-finals.
A win over non-league opposition in the FA Cup, at home, for the twelve-time winners may seem a mere formality, however, given the testing start to 2017 that Arsene Wenger and his players have endured, it was more than just a walk in the park.
Having lost to Watford, Chelsea and Liverpool in the Premier League since the turn of the year, as well as their 10-2 embarrassment over two legs against Bayern Munich in the Champions League round of 16, an FA Cup loss to Lincoln would have really been the lowest of lows.
Thus, going into the clash, regardless of the gap in talent between themselves and their lowly opposition, the Gunners were under more pressure than ever going into the clash.
With that in mind, although a result of 5-0 was the least that was expected from the likes of Alexis Sanchez, Olivier Giroud and Theo Walcott, as a squad they have at least avoided the most embarrassing of defeats of the season, which saying something.
However, having cleared that hurdle, they must step up and prove that their woes are now firmly behind them. As discussed Wenger is going to face a tough match against Pep Guardiola’s City side in the FA Cup semi-finals, a competition both managers will now be fully focussed on as they both look to win silverware.
The next three fixtures will test the Gunners in almost every area. First up they face a trip to West Brom, where they will of course be the favourites but will be met by one of the most organised and hard to beat sides in the Premier League.
Next up after their trip to the Hawthorns is the visit of Pep Guardiola and his Manchester City in a dressed rehearsal for the FA Cup semi-final with key points on offer in the chase for top 4 places, no need to explain how big that one is, followed by the test of a London derby against West Ham, who will be far from the side who rolled over and took a 5-1 beating earlier in the season.
Should the players stick to their line in the press recently, all claiming they must work together to take the pressure from Wenger, whilst this season will be remember by this woeful spell, they can at least make a success of what is left ahead.