DM1ST
mirror.co.uk/sport TUESDAY 03.03.2020 DAILY MIRROR^49
portsmouth 0 arsenal 2
Sokratis 45, Nketiah 51fa cup fifth round
fratton park
By Paul Brown
Speedy Arsenal winger Reiss
Nelson’s brilliant delivery from
the right served up goals for
Sokratis and eddie Nketiah either
side of half-time.
And that left former Disney boss
Michael Eisner’s dreams of a big cup
upset in tatters as League One
Pompey crashed out.
But it was good news for Gunners
boss Mikel Arteta, who needed a
response after his side were sent
crashing out of the Europa League by
Olympiakos.
And, whisper it quietly, at this rate
it surely won’t be long before Nelson,
20, gets a call from Gareth Southgate.
The England Under-21 star, who cut
his teeth on loan at German club
Hoffenheim, has been responsible for
six goals in his last eight starts for the
Gunners.
As potential mismatches go, it was
a big one on paper. The 13-time
winners against the lowest-ranked
team left in the competition.
But Arteta tempted fate by resting
skipper Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
completely, with Pablo Mari making
his debut at the back and Nketiah
starting up front.
Mesut Ozil was also not in the
squad, but there are few who think a
fifth-round tie on a Monday night
away to a lower league team is the
right stage for him anyway.
Pompey boss Kenny Jackett, who led
Millwall to the semi-finals in 2013,
made six changes from Friday’s 3-0
win over Rochdale.
You could hardly blame him. The
south coast club, which flirted with
extinction not so long ago, are third in
League One and their priority is
promotion.
But the bumper 18,893 home crowd
was pumped up from the off and their
side gave it a go, with Ellis Harrison
looking particularly dangerous.
There certainly was a poise and
purpose about Pompey, and Arsenal
had plenty of defending to do.
Arteta was also forced into an early
change when James Bolton crunched
into a tackle on Lucas Torreira which
resulted in the Arsenal midfielder
going off on a stretcher.
Torreira needed oxygen and Arsenal
players did not look impressed when
the home fans taunted him with
chants about how he was going home
in an ambulance.
When play resumed, Pompey
skipper Gareth Evans should have
done better with a free header from a
Steve Seddon cross.
At the other end Gabriel Martinelli
fired over the bar from close range
after a fizzing Nelson centre.
But it was poor from Arsenal until
unlikely hero Sokratis put them in
front against the run of play with a fine
volley from another Nelson cross.
Makeshift right-back Sokratis had
copped all sorts of flak from Arteta,
and team-mate David Luiz too, for not
getting forward enough, and that was
the perfect answer.
It got better for Arsenal when
Nketiah grabbed a second from close
range, with man-of-the-match Nelson
again the provider, before doing his
trademark phone call celebration.
After that the visitors played keep-
ball. They haven’t lost to a team in the
third tier or lower since 1992, and a
place in the quarters was theirs.nelson crew
do their duty
It’s plain sailing for
Gunners as Reiss
sinks sad
Pompey
poRtSmouth: Bass 6, McCrorie
6, Burgess 6, Bolton 6, Seddon 6,
McGeehan 6, Close 6, Harness 7
(Curtis 67, 6), Evans 6 (Cannon 75,
6), Williams 6, Harrison 7
(Marquis 67, 6)
ARSeNAl: Martinez 6, Sokratis 6,
Mari 7, Luiz 6, Saka 6, Guendouzi 5,
Torreira 5 (Ceballos 16, 6), Nelson 8
(Maitland-Niles 90), Willock 6
(Xhaka 86), Martinelli 6, Nketiah 7
ReFeRee: Mike Dean At t: 18,8 39match stats
27% Possession 73%
1 shots on target 44 shots off target (^5)
(^3) corners (^10)
(^2) offside (^2)
(^8) fouls 8
1 0 cards 1 0
B y tonY BanKs
RAUL JIMENEZ insists his
Wolves side “never quit” –
under any circumstances.
The Mexican scored his
22nd goal of the season in
Sunday’s 3-2 comeback win
at Tottenham. The result
saw Wolves leapfrog Spurs
into sixth – and join the race
for the Champions League.
Jimenez said: “We never
quit. We never give up, we
go until the end.
“We know we are a team
that can come from behind.
It’s very important for us.”
Jimenez
hails spirit
R eSultS &
FixtuReS
footBall
emiRAteS FA Cup 5th RouNd
Portsmth (0) 0 ArsenAl (1) 2
Sokratis 45
att: 18,839 nketiah 51
Sky Bet ChAmpioNShip
middlesbro (2) 2 nott’m For (1) 2
Gestede 40 Yates 29
Wing 44 Grabban 86
att: 18,884
P W d l F A Pts
West Brom 36 19 12 5 64 37 69
Leeds 36 20 8 8 54 30 68
fulham 36 18 9 9 51 37 63
nottm forest 36 16 12 8 48 35 60
Brentford 36 16 9 11 59 33 57
preston 36 16 8 12 49 42 56
Bristol City 36 15 9 12 50 52 54
Blackburn 36 14 11 11 52 42 53
Swansea 36 13 13 10 46 45 52
Millwall 36 12 15 9 41 40 51
Cardiff 36 12 15 9 50 50 51
Sheff Wed 36 13 9 14 46 44 48
Derby 36 12 12 12 46 49 48
Qpr 36 13 8 15 55 61 47
Birmingham 36 12 11 13 47 54 47
reading 36 12 9 15 43 41 45
Huddersfield 36 11 9 16 45 56 42
Hull 36 11 8 17 48 58 41
Wigan 36 10 10 16 38 50 40
Charlton 36 10 9 17 44 53 39
Stoke 36 11 6 19 44 54 39
Middlesbrough 36 8 14 14 36 47 38
Barnsley 36 8 10 18 42 60 34
Luton 36 10 4 22 43 71 34
cricKet
iCC WomeN’S t 20 WoRld
Cup - GRoup A
melbourne: Australia 155-5 (20
overs; B L Mooney 60). New Zea-
land 151-7 (20 overs). Australia
(2pts) won by 4 runs.
melbourne: Bangladesh 91-8 (20
overs; H A S D Siriwardene 4-16). Sri
Lanka 92-1 (15.3 overs). Sri lanka
(2pts) won by 9 wickets.
2 Nd teSt
Christchurch: India 242 (63
overs; GH Vihari 55, KA Jamieson
5-45) & 124 (46 overs; TA Boult
4-28); New Zealand 235 (73.1 overs;
TWM Latham 52, M Shami 4-81) &
132-3 (36 overs; TA Blundell 55,
TWM Latham 52). N Zealand won
by 7 wkts.
todaY’s fiXtures
f ootBall
(7.45 unless stated)
emirates FA Cup Fifth Round
Chelsea v Liverpool
Reading v Sheff Utd (8)
West Brom v Newcastle (8)
Sky Bet league one
Ipswich v Fleetwood Town
Sky Bet league two
Exeter v Crewe
Plymouth v Grimsby
Swindon v Scunthorpe
Vanarama National league
Barnet v Boreham Wood
Chesterfield v Harrogate Town
Chorley v Eastleigh
FC Halifax v Sutton Utd
Solihull Moors v Hartlepool
AFC Fylde v Notts County
ladbrokes Scottish premiership
Hibernian v Hearts
ladbrokes Scottish Ch’ship
Ayr v Dundee Utd
Dundee v Alloa
Inverness CT v Morton
Partick v Queen of South
ladbrokes Scottish league one
Clyde v Montrose
Dumbarton v Forfar
Raith v Falkirk
ladbrokes Scottish league two
Cowdenbeath v Albion
Stirling v Stenhousemuir
cricKet
iCC Women’s t20 World Cup
- Group B, Sydney: Pakistan v
Thailand (4am), West Indies v
South Africa (8am).
Gunners marched
through with goals
from Sokratis (top)
and Nketiah
(below)sok it
to them