History: How Arsene Wenger won his record-breaking 7th FA Cup with Arsenal

Arsene Wenger’s FA Cup seven heaven

In 2017 Arsene Wenger secured his seventh FA Cup winner’s medal which no manager in the English game has surpassed in the competitions history.

The “Le Professeur” had already won the cup a previous six times (1998, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2014, 2015) however that was not enough for him.

In the Third Round Arsenal were drawn away at Deepdale to Championship outfit Preston North End. Within less than ten minutes the hosts stole an unprecedented lead after 21-year old Callum Robinson fired one in at the far post from close range after a couple of defensive errors in the Arsenal box. Just after halftime The Gunners fought back to make it 1-1 thanks to Aaron Ramsey who equalised from the edge of the 25-yard box to put his side back into the game. In the final minutes of the toss up Olivier Giroud made it four goals in four games after slotting his effort into the back of the net from close range calmly and composed for a 2-1 victory.

Three weeks later Arsenal drove down to Hampshire for their fourth round match versus Southampton who had dumped them earlier in the season out of the fifth round of the League Cup at home 2-0.

Theo Walcott would go on to grab a hat-trick against his old team, with Danny Welbeck joining him with a couple of strikes. Inside 15 minutes Welbeck hit the bar before his shot dropped down and rolled into the back of the Saints goal to give Arsenal the opener. Seven minutes later Welbeck scored from point blank range again before Walcott opened up his goalscoring prowess to triple the advantage on the 35^th minute mark after Welbeck squared the ball to him. Walcott scored two more in the second half to round off the scoreline, his second came just before the 70^th minute after Alexis Sanchez pulled one back for him inside Saints box where he finished not far in front of the seven-yard box. With six minutes to go Walcott ensured Arsenal clinched the 5-0 obliteration firing into the far side of Paul Farman’s goal from inside Southampton’s area.

In the fifth round the Wenger boys played Sutton United down the road at Gander Green Lane who were in the National League. United had beaten all expectations in the previous round of the cup knocking out Championship side Leeds United in the fourth round 1-0 at the same ground. However with nearly half an hour gone it was “1-0 to the Arsenal” after Lucas Perez fired a cross into the box which found its way into the bottom corner of the goal with Walcott blocking the keepers view. Ten minutes into the second half Walcott wrapped up the 2-0 victory after firing in his 100^th goal in 380 games for Arsenal.

Arsenal couldn’t have faced an easier opposition in the quarter-final against lowest ranked non-league and National League side Lincoln City who were still left in the cup, although they had overturned Premier League side Burnley in the fifth round 1-0 away. They would make it tricky for The Gunners on home soil with Walcott not scoring for the North Londoners till the final seconds of added time in the first half to hand his team the lead. Giroud made it two for Arsenal early on in the second half after the ball was cut back to him before netting from close range.  Skip forward five minutes just before the hour mark and Luke Waterfall accidentally put the ball in the back of his own net as Lincoln found themselves 3-0 down at the Emirates. Alexis Sanchez then found the bottom left corner from outside the box impressively to quadruple Adrenals winnings. In the final third of the game Ramsey topped off the 5-0 thrashing walking the ball in past the opposition’s goalkeeper.

In late April Arsenal had no option but to play Manchester City in the semi-finals which proved to be a tough test in the end at Wembley.  After the hour mark Ramsey lost the ball on the edge of the Arsenal box before The Citizens sprung forward with a strong counter attack move which finished off with Kun Augero slotting the ball past Petr Cech from a matter of yards out. Wengers men were now under the cosh but within six minutes Nacho Monreal levelled the score at 1-1 smashing the ball past Bravos near post after a cross from Ramsey finding him from the right flank. Nothing would split the two sides by fulltime with the game being pushed out to extra-time where The Gunners sealed the 2-1 winner in the 101^st minute once a Mesut Ozil cross somehow ended up at the feet of Sanchez who scored from only a few yards out.

Wenger would face his seventh FA Cup final versus London rivals Chelsea at the same venue. After only four minutes Sanchez put Arsenal in dreamland running through The Blues box and striking from inside the area into the far post of Thibaut Courtois goal. The Gunners had many more chances to increase their hold over Antonio Conte’s men but failed to do so. In the 76^th minute Chelsea’s main talisman Diego Costa scored yet again against Arsenal as it looked as if they had regretted missing their previous efforts. However like Ramsey had done four years earlier in the FA Cup final against Hull City in 2014 he went onto score the goal which won Arsenal their third cup in four years with a close range diving header. Arsenal had won 2-1 against Chelsea who were aiming to secure the double after having just won the Premier League.

Wenger had collected his record breaking seventh FA Cup after his side were pushed to the limit in frantic style in the dying stages of the 90 minutes. Wenger would step down at the end of the next 2017/18 season, however this didn’t stop Arsenal from winning the cup again under current manager Mikel Arteta in 2020 versus Chelsea, which reflected the same result as in the 2017 final.