Arsenal win record 12th FA Cup

Arsenal won the FA Cup for a record 12th time by outclassing Aston Villa  in the final on Saturday at Wembley.

The Gunners dominated from start to finish, with goals from Theo Walcott, Alexis Sanchez, Per Mertesacker and Olivier Giroud earning them a 4-0 victory and back-to-back FA Cup wins.

Arsene Wenger’s men saw plenty of the ball in the early stages, but it was from set pieces where they had their best openings in the first quarter of an hour.

Laurent Koscielny twice got up unchallenged, but he couldn’t find the net as first he headed wide before Villa keeper Shay Given made an acrobatic stop to keep out the Frenchman.

At the other end, Villa were struggling to have any impact in the opposing half and but for an instinctive piece of defending from Kieran Richardson, they would have fallen behind in the 24th minute.

The deadlock was broken in the 40th minute and this time Walcott wasn’t denied as he fired a controlled low volley past Given at his near post after Sanchez had got up well to head Nacho Monreal’s dinked centre back across goal.

Half time arrived soon after to give Villa the chance to regroup, but they were two down not long into the second half as Sanchez pinged home his third goal in two matches at Wembley this season.

After scoring both of the Gunners’ goals in the semi-final victory over Reading, the Chilean made his mark on the final with a thumping drive from 25 yards that swerved away from Given and in off the crossbar.

Arsenal continued to press after doubling their lead, with Santi Cazorla and Walcott missing chances before they went three in front shortly after the hour mark.

Cazorla’s outswinging corner was misjudged by Villa striker Christian Benteke, leaving Mertesacker unmarked to turn home with a combination of head and shoulder.

Villa’s chances of coming back into the game were extinguished by the German’s second goal in this year’s competition and the game began to peter towards its conclusion.

First, Gabriel Agbonlahor was brought down right on the edge of box by Francis Coquelin before Jack Grealish appeared to be hauled over by Hector Bellerin.

With the final whistle seconds away, Walcott’s replacement Giroud put further gloss on the result with a flicked finish at the near post.

By leading Arsenal to victory, Wenger becomes only the second manager to win the FA Cup on six occasions. Villa, meanwhile, had no shots on target and miss out on the chance to win their eighth title and first since 1957.

Arsenal’s triumph also means that Southampton have qualified for the Europa League with their seventh-placed Premier League finish. Had Villa won, they would have taken the final spot.