Aaron Ramsey takes delight in reaching Wembley as Arsenal win gives side a 'big boost' following Champions League exit
Arsenal put their humiliating 10-2 aggregate defeat by Bayern Munich behind them to reach the semi-finals of the FA Cup with an emphatic 5-0 win over non-league Lincoln City
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Aaron Ramsey knows reaching Wembley is a big boost for Arsenal as their FA Cup quarter-final victory over Lincoln ended a forgettable week in the club's season.
The Gunners eased to a 5-0 win against the non-league outfit after losing to both Liverpool and Bayern Munich in the preceding week, leading to their elimination from the Champions League and dropping severely off the pace in the Premier League title race.
Manager Arsene Wenger had seen his side lose five of their seven games in all competitions leading up to the visit of Lincoln.
The 12-time FA Cup winners started slowly but took the lead on the stroke of half-time through Theo Walcott before Olivier Giroud, a Luke Waterfall own goal, an Alexis Sanchez strike and Ramsey's second of the season wrapped up a comfortable win.
And the Wales international believes a Wembley semi-final can prove an uplift for Arsenal.
"Of course it's a big boost," Ramsey told Arsenal Player.
"We're disappointed to be out of the Champions League but I love this competition.
"I'm delighted to be going back to Wembley and hopefully we can have something to look forward to and can get back to the final. We're just delighted that we've got another trip to Wembley."
Ramsey also paid tribute to Lincoln, who held their own for the opening 45 minutes before tiring towards the end of the tie.
"Full credit to Lincoln," he said.
"They've had an absolutely amazing FA Cup run. They showed that in the first half, they were difficult to break down - very well-organised - and it's no surprise that they're top of their league."
The Imps had already beaten Championship pair Ipswich and Brighton before winning at Premier League Burnley to set up the trip to the Emirates Stadium.
Despite the defeat in north London, forward Nathan Arnold believes Danny Cowley's side can take plenty from their performance.
"From any loss you can learn and from any win you can learn," he said.
"Ultimately we're disappointed we've conceded five goals, but if you look at the calibre of player we have come up against, you can't argue with the scoreline.
"They're world class players and they showed that in the way they manipulated the ball to find space. They then took advantage of that space to hurt us and showed the gulf in class.
"However, we can take a lot of credit from that first half. We went in at 1-0 down after they scored at a crucial time without playing very well or creating any clear chances, which is disappointing.
"We were well in the game for 30 or 40 minutes but it was probably always going to be the hardest game of our lives."
PA
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments