Giroud scores first goal as youngsters shine in Cup

Olivier Giroud scored his first Arsenal goal as a mix of youth and experience thrashed Coventry in the third round of the League Cup at the Emirates on Wednesday night. The Frenchman later went on to miss a penalty but set up Andrey Arshavin for his goal. Oxlade-Chamberlain was Arsenal's brightest player going forward in the first half and then scored a brilliant goal outside the box in the second half. On the other wing, Theo Walcott was fairly quiet until the second half when he slid home two confident finishes. Meanwhile the youngsters played very well. Francis Coquelin held the midfield together with Nico Yennaris. Ignasi Miquel was brilliant at centre back, was confident with bringing the ball out of defence and even scored a well placed header late on in the game. 17 year old German, Serge Gnabry, came off the bench and looked very lively whilst Emmanuel Frimpong also returned from injury and got a standing ovation when he came on. Gnabry was one of three teenagers who got their first team debuts as Martin Angha started at right back and was fairly solid whilst Damian Martinez was in goal but didn't have that much to do.


Arsenal easily saw off Coventry in the third round of the cup

The first chance of the game fell Coventry's way as Angha was beaten easily before a cross was played onto the head of Barton but the ball bounced wide of the goal.

Just after the half hour mark Martin Angha had a decent chance as the ball bobbled out to him just inside the box but he sliced his shot wide.

Giroud then came close as Coquelin found him on the edge of the penalty area before striking a shot with his weaker foot which found the arms of Murphy in the Coventry goal.

5 minutes before the break Arsenal took the lead. Coquelin was once again the provider as he poked
the ball through to Giroud who got into the penalty box before dinking the ball over the keeper for his first goal in Arsenal colours.

The score at half time was 1-0 to Arsenal.

Just after the break, Arsenal immediately had the chance to go 2-0 up as Arshavin was brought down in the box and a penalty was given. Olivier Giroud stepped up to take the penalty and he slotted the ball towards the right hand corner but Murphy made a great save to deny Giroud.

From the resulting corner the miss was almost forgotten as Miquel saw his header hit the crossbar.

Arsenal then did manage to find a second as Arshavin layed the ball off to Oxlade-Chamberlain who smashed a strike from range which swerved before beating Murphy and finding the back of the net.

A few minutes after the hour mark, Arsenal went 3-0 up. Giroud was played through and then he found Arshavin who took one touch before poking the ball past the goalkeeper to extend the lead.

Johan Djourou, skipper for the night, almost got in on the act as he got onto the end of Arshavin's corner but Murphy kept him out from close range.

It wasn't long before the Gunners added a fourth. Nico Yennaris played in Walcott down the right who got into the penalty area before firing the ball into the far corner of the goal.

Coventry then finally got themselves on the scoresheet. Baker swung in a great delivery from the right hand side into the path of Ball who tapped home 8 yards out.

It was a game full of chances and there was no surprise that Arsenal added yet another goal. Arshavin crossed the ball in which found Ignasi Miquel who headed the ball into the back of the net.

A minute from the end of the game there was a sixth goal for Arsenal and a second for Theo Walcott. Walcott managed to take the ball past one man before galloping down the left hand side and then into the penalty area before finding the net.

The final score finished Arsenal 6-1 Coventry.

The teams lineups:

Arsenal: Martinez, Angha, Djourou, Miquel, Santos, Yennaris, Coquelin(73), Arshavin, Walcott, Giroud(73), Oxlade-Chamberlain(73).
Subs: Shea, Squillaci, Bellerin, Frimpong(73), Eisfeld, Gnabry(73), Chamakh(73).

Coventry: Murphy, Clarke, Wood, Reckford, Brown, Baker, McSheffrey, Barton, Moussa(60), Bailey, Elliot(70).
Subs: Dunn, Hussey, Daniels, Ball(70), Edjenguele, McDonald, Fleck(60).

My man of the match: Ignasi Miquel

Referee: Michael Jones
Attendance: 58,351