Mansfield Town 1-2 Arsenal 
by Layth Yousif 
at Field Mill

THE beautiful white swans gliding on the water at the nearby Quarry Lane Nature Reserve would have been oblivious to the gripping drama unfolding over the road at Field Mill, but Arsenal’s hard-fought FA Cup victory over Mansfield Town ensured hopes of an unprecedented quadruple remain.

The Gunners beat Mansfield 2-1 in a hard-fought FA Cup fifth round clash on Saturday lunchtime to earn Arsenal a place in Monday’s quarter-final draw.

Goals from Noni Madueke and Eberechi Eze either side of a Will Evans equaliser for the Stages were enough to seal a tight victory over Nigel Clough’s battling League One team. 

With games coming thick and fast for Mikel Arteta silverware-chasing contenders on four fronts, the win was validation for the Gunners boss’s gamble on naming a back three that included two 16-year-olds, as the youthful north Londoners survived an FA Cup scare to make the quarter-finals for the first time since 2020, the year they last won this tournament, and keep alive their hopes of a truly momentous end to a season that still promises so much in March.

Surviving an early chaotic onslaught that saw eight shots rain in at Kepa’s Gunners goal in the opening 15 minutes, as the club’s No2 keeper, in for David Raya, and his young defence just about proved equal to Clough’s side’s powerful start. 

Employing an unfamiliar three-man defence, the formation of which Arteta admitted had been trained “once [for] 10 minutes,” the Arsenal boss made nine changes to the side that emerged victorious from the battle at Brighton in midweek, with Marli Salmon, and Max Dowman, both 16, making the line-up. The former, becoming the youngest player to start an FA Cup game for the club, a mere 66 days after his 16th birthday. It was also the first time a Premier League side had named two players aged 16 in their starting line-up in any competition.

“Very proud of him [Dowman], very proud as well of Marli,” Arteta purred after the match, saying: “Two 16-year-olds starting in the FA Cup: that tells us a lot about them, their personality, and the quality that they have. And Max, I think he was exceptional.”

Sold-out Field Mill was raucous at kick-off, as Clough’s side set about attacking the relative inexperience of their illustrious visitors at the world’s oldest professional football ground. 

Named after a large, water-powered textile mill across the road in 1861, the other side of a stone wall at Quarry Lane, where elegant swans now reside on the peaceful water, the stadium kept the name long after the textile mill was demolished. The venerable site has hosted everything from greyhound racing, and rugby league, to a Westlife concert, as Arsenal made a first visit, 97 years after the clubs took part in their only previous encounter.

Clough’s hosts, only five points clear above the League One trapdoor, piled early pressure on the Premier League leaders, totalling a whopping 11 shots against Arsenal in the first half, the most the Gunners have faced in the first 45 minutes of a match in all competitions since April 2022.

That the Gunners ensured the second FA Cup meeting between the sides also ended in victory, following on from their 2-0 fourth round win at long-lost Highbury back in 1929, was to do with the strength of the squad Arteta has assiduously assembled. 

Not least, because after Mansfield’s early bombardment that saw the under-fire Gunners struggling to maintain composure — including efforts from the Stags’ Louis Reed, Rhys Oats, and Tyker Roberts — when Leo Trossard picked up a knock just after the half hour, the redoubtable Piero Hincapie entered the fray to bolster the backline. 

The enforced change was to help win this rambunctious cup tie, as Arteta switched to a more familiar back four, allowing his more attacking talents further forward to flourish, with more belief that the now reinforced defence could cope with Mansfield’s forays. 

Four minutes before the interval, Gabi Martinelli recycled the ball to Madueke, who intelligently guided his curling effort past home keeper Liam Roberts, and into the net to make it 1-0 to the Arsenal.

Undeterred, Clough’s gallant side refused to buckle after the break, and when the inexperienced Salmon inadvertently played the ball to half time substitute Evans five minutes after the restart, the Welsh striker skipped past Cristhian Mosquera’s last-ditch attempt to curtail his endeavours, before confidently slotting past Kepa — who perhaps should have done better in keeping the ball out. Cue bedlam in the sold-out crowd of 9,260. 

Arteta immediately adjusted his personnel, hooking Salmon for Jurrien Timber, while swapping Kai Havertz for Eze. The decision immediately paid off, with the former Crystal Palace creative feeding on a pass from the metronomic consistency of the unsung Christian Norgaard, to slam the ball past Roberts on 66 minutes, as Arsenal saw out this gripping tie. 
 
With the prospect of a trip to Germany to face Bayer Leverkusen in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16, the fact Arteta could rest Declan Rice, Gabriel Magalhaes and Martin Zubimendi in such a relentless gruelling clash against Mansfield, could give the Gunners a crucial edge this month, with vital games in the Premier League, Champions League and Carabao Cup final to come.

Clough’s valiant Stags face a more prosaic battle against relegation, starting with the visit of Reading on Tuesday. Clough, who will be hoping to steer his side from the choppy waters of a scrap to maintain their League One status, reflected afterwards, saying: “We have that little nagging feeling in the stomach that we have an opportunity today, and we could have nicked it,” before adding with no little pride, “Everything that we set out to do, make it uncomfortable for Arsenal, not sit back, all those sort of things [we achieved]. The difference in the end is the finishing, the quality of their goals. And it always will be.”

Clough had invited opposition counterpart Arteta for a post-match beer, the room available, he noted dryly, not being able to accommodate even half of the Gunners staff. With a glint in his eye, Clough also said that Arteta would have to put up with his dog. 

Meanwhile, the frenzy now faded, the swans on Quarry Lane pond opposite Field Mill continued on their way. As did Arsenal’s hopes of a remarkable quadruple.