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Arsenal returned to form with a 5-0 drubbing of Leyton Orient and Manchester
City eased past Aston Villa 3-0 to reach the FA Cup quarter-finals on
Wednesday.

Nicklas Bendtner fired a hat-trick as Arsenal recovered from their League
Cup final loss to Birmingham City in a one-sided fifth-round replay against
Orient to set up a titanic quarter-final against Manchester United.

The Gunners’ victory was never in doubt after Marouane Chamakh and Bendtner
put Arsenal 2-0 up and Arsene Wenger’s side bounced back emphatically from
Sunday’s shock defeat by Birmningham.

Manchester City also reached the last eight with an easy win over much-changed
Aston Villa team and they face Championship side Reading who beat Premier
League Everton on Tuesday.

“It was important we came back from Sunday’s defeat with a win,”
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger told reporters.

“We are having a fine run apart from Sunday’s defeat which came under
special circumstances. But we played very well tonight.”

The Gunners, held to a 1-1 draw by third tier Orient in the first game, were
looking for a rapid response after Sunday’s painful 2-1 loss when they conceded
a last-minute goal to Birmingham after a mix-up between goalkeeper Wojciech
Szczesny and defender Laurent Koscielny.

But there were no mistakes at the Emirates where the crowd were subdued
until Arsenal took control of the game.

Chamakh settled nerves with a well-taken side-footed goal, his first since
November, after seven minutes before Bendtner headed the second, Arsenal’s
100th of the season in all competitions.

Orient, who scored in the last minute to take
the tie to a replay, had chances in the opening stages with Dean Cox almost
cancelling out Arsenal’s opener after 14 minutes.

But despite a spirited performance from the visitors, Arsenal were too sharp
and had too much guile, and that included 19-year-old midfielder Conor
Henderson who had a fine debut.

Bendtner’s second just before halftime exposed the gulf in class between the
teams when he beat off defenders before firing a curling shot past goalkeeper
Jamie Jones.

Jones had no chance of saving his 62nd-minute penalty either before Gael
Clichy wrapped up the win with an angled left-foot drive 15 minutes from time.

Early grip

Manchester City took an early grip at Eastlands with Yaya Toure opening the
scoring after Villa failed to clear a corner in the fifth minute.

The ball bounced off the shoulder of Ciaran Clark and into Toure’s path and
he cracked it home from inside the six-yard box.

Mario Balotelli, beginning to settle at City after a difficult first few
months at Eastlands disrupted by injury, added the second when he collected a
pass from Toure and sidefooted home a half-volley from 15-metres that bounced
in off Brad Friedel’s post.

David Silva added the third 20 minutes from time with a powerful drive from
the edge of the penalty area.

The other quarter-finals are Stoke City against West Ham United and
Birmingham against Bolton Wanderers.

REUTERS