Arsenal youngsters dispatch Bournemouth to advance in FA Cup

Bukayo Saka turned in an impressive display as Arsenal beat Bournemouth 2-1 in the fourth round of the FA Cup on Monday night at the Vitality Stadium.

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta started a youthful side against a Bournemouth team stuck in the relegation zone in the Premier League and the move paid off as his team advance to the fifth round and an away match against Portsmouth.

Saka fired the Gunners into an early lead from a Gabriel Martinelli assist after a nice turn and run by Joe Willock from midfield allowed the Arsenal teen to blast a shot into the roof of the net at the near post.

Arsenal doubled their lead with a well-worked team move that saw Saka set up Eddie Nketiah, who was recalled this month from a loan at Leeds United, for a nice first-time finish for the visitors in the 26th minute and held on for the remainder of the half to take a 2-0 lead into half-time.

Arsenal's first-half performance was eye-catching, with 22 passes leading up to Saka's fine opening goal.

"Mikel is trying to bring back the philosophy of the Arsenal way. We did that well in the first half, not so much in the second half," Saka said.

Shkodran Mustafi was stretchered off just before the hour mark after big collision with Bournemouth's Dominic Solanke and Arsenal goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez that caused him to fall awkwardly. He was replaced by Rob Holding.

The hosts finally found a first goal during the 10 minutes of added time through Sam Surridge from a set piece, but a composed Arsenal saw out the result to book passage to the fifth round of England's annual cup competition.

"We're very disappointed. We gave it a good go in the end," said Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe. "It was just a poor start. Tough first half hour and we struggled to deal with their movement.

"We weren't ourselves. But for the last 60 minutes we scrapped and almost got something in the end."