Two wonderfully taken goals from Olivier Giroud along with a Theo Walcott winner spurred Arsenal to an exciting 3-2 win over an impressive Brighton side in the fourth round of the F.A. Cup.
Giroud gave the Gunners the lead twice, with Ashley Barnes and Leonardo Ulloa levelling the scores for Brighton, before substitute Walcott netted the all-important winner in the final moments.
Just like their last few games, it took a bit of time for the Gunners to wake up, with Brighton enjoying good possession and looking to create some nice openings.
Arsenal were without their main players, with the likes of Walcott, Jack Wilshere and Santi Cazorla on the bench, but it was still no reason to make another slow beginning to the game.
The Gunners, however, opened the scoring through Olivier Giroud in the 16th minute off a quick counter-attack.
Wojciech Szczesny made a brilliant save to keep the scores at 0-0, and within seconds Tomas Rosicky was charging up the field. The midfielder played the ball across to Lukas Podolski in the middle, who laid it off for Olivier Giroud to curl a peach into the top corner.
Arsenal were slowly growing into the game, with the match looking like a proper F.A. Cup tie. But, Brighton always looked like they could carve open the Arsenal defense, given time, and they did, just past the half-hour mark.
Some absolutely woeful defending from the Gunners allowed Barnes to power home a free header from six yards off a corner - the Arsenal defenders were caught ball-watching with Szczesny not authoritative enough to come and gather.
The scores remained 1-1 at halftime, with Arsenal coming out the better side in the second 45. Giroud was again the man getting the goal in the 56th minute. A nice lobbed pass from Abou Diaby was well taken down by Giroud, before slamming home with his favorite left foot.
Arsenal though made things difficult for themselves yet again with some poor defending. A brilliant low cross from Barnes saw Ulloa, making his Brighton debut, plant a diving header into the net, with Per Mertesacker losing his man.
Arsene Wenger brought on his big guns Walcott and Wilshere and it paid dividends, with the former popping up with the winner, albeit aided by a big deflection, with five minutes remaining.
In the early game, Pablo Zabaleta scored the winner in the 85th minute to give Manchester City a 1-0 win over Stoke at the Britannia Stadium, in what was otherwise a rather forgettable Cup game.
Among the upsets, Milton Keynes Dons thumped the English Premier League's bottom club Queens Park Rangers 4-2 at Loftus Road, with QPR only making the scores respectable thanks to two late goals, while Conference side Luton Town got the better of Premier League's Norwich City 1-0.
Results: Stoke City 0-1 Manchester City; Norwich City 0-1 Luton Town; Macclesfield Town 0-1 Wigan Athletic; Derby County 0-3 Blackburn Rovers; Hull City 0-1 Barnsley; Brighton & Hove Albion 2-3 Arsenal; Reading 4-0 Sheffield United; Huddersfield Town 1-1 Leicester City; Queens Park Ranger 2-4 Milton Keynes Dons; Bolton Wanderers 1-2 Everton; Millwall 2-1 Aston Villa.
