Arsenal left it late on Wednesday, but through some sharp passing and a fantastic finish from Jack Wilshere, the Gunners managed to secure passage to the next round of the F.A. Cup. Despite pressing Swansea and creating multiple chances in the latter portion of the game, the boys in red were unable to break the deadlock until Wilshere fired his left-footed volley into the Swansea City goal. Below we take a closer look at the goal and how the ball found itself nestled in the back of the net.

The play actually starts from a Swansea throw-in that results in a poor clearance into the middle of the pitch. Kieran Gibbs rushes to the ball and takes it down with one touch before looking up and finding Santi Cazorla sat between two Swansea players. Aaron Ramsey, seeing quite a bit of space on the left side of the pitch, has already started his run away from the congested right side. Though the right portion of the middle is quite congested, the area behind Swansea’s midfield and in front of their back four is wide open. It doesn’t look like much of a threat at the moment, but teams that are able to move the ball quickly and read the game well can take advantage of that space in a heartbeat. Dennis Bergkamp loved operating in this area to deadly effect, and the reason it causes such a headache is because of the indecision it causes between the midfield and back-line. Do I go? Or does he have it covered?

Cazorla’s first touch is vital for the move. He receives the ball on the half, essentially meaning he’s gone from facing Gibbs and his own goal to facing the Swansea goal with one motion and one touch. The space he occupied between the two Swansea defenders affords him the time to turn and make an appropriate decision. While he sets himself to go right, Ramsey and Gibbs both make opposite movements, which gives the two Swansea defenders decisions to make – go with the runners or go with the man on the ball?

The deeper of the two Swansea midfielders goes with Cazorla while the other shadows Gibbs to cut off a reverse pass back into the central part of the pitch. Cazorla takes one or two touches across the pitch then delivers an excellent pass into Arsenal’s target man, Olivier Giroud. This penetrating pass is huge because it splits two Swansea defenders and plays through the midfield line, eliminating three defensive players in the immediate vicinity. The area behind the midfield and in front of the back four is highlighted again here because of how dangerous it has now become.

As Cazorla’s ball travels towards Giroud, Wilshere notes the highlighted area in the pictures and darts into the space. Instead of reading this development and anticipating the danger, Wilshere’s defender reacts to his movement too late and finds himself a step behind the young Englishman. Swansea’s left sided center back drops back towards the left to cover Giroud while the right sided center back drops as well. Cazorla’s reverse pass already has the defense moving one way, and when Giroud’s first touch goes the other way, the defenders find themselves laterally shifting again.

Giroud has shown before that he is more than capable of bringing others into play as Arsenal’s highest man. His pass, though slightly bobbly, is placed perfectly for Wilshere to run onto. The fact that he lays it off in an opposite direction of the movement of the defender makes it that much harder for the left center back to react and recover. In the end, the bobbly pass worked out for the best. Wilshere continues his run into the space, and with one swing of his gifted left foot, he powers Arsenal into the next round of the FA Cup.

Once again, the combination of good movement off the ball, a killer pass, and effective use of the target man led to Arsenal scoring. Though Wilshere still had a bit to do when he approached the ball with his final movement, the build-up was once again an excellent display of Arsenal’s pass and move style of football.

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