Arsenal's bid to win the FA Cup for a third successive year ended on Sunday when they lost 2-1 at home to Watford in a pulsating quarter-final tie.
The defeat ended the holders' hopes of becoming the first club since Blackburn Rovers in 1886 to win the FA Cup three times in a row.
The result appears to have condemned Arsenal to end the season without a trophy as they face elimination from the Champions League next week, unless they manage to overturn a two goal deficit against Barcelona, and they trail Premier League leaders Leicester City by eight points with only nine games left.
Arsene Wenger's men were left to rue a host of missed chances as Watford opened up a 2-0 lead in the second half with goals from Odion Ighalo and Adlene Guedioura.
Danny Welbeck pulled a goal back for Arsenal in the 88th minute but it was too late to change the result.
Watford go into the semi-finals alongside Premier League sides Everton and Crystal Palace.
Martial keeps United's hopes alive
Meanwhile, Manchester United striker Anthony Martial kept their FA Cup hopes alive when he struck eight minutes from time to salvage a 1-1 draw with West Ham United in their quarter-final tie at Old Trafford.
West Ham playmaker Dimitri Payet looked to be sending the 11-times Cup winners tumbling out of the competition with a wondrous, curling free kick in the 68th minute.
But with time running out, United's young French starlet Martial hooked Ander Herrera's cross back into the net from the narrowest of angles.
With United 2-0 down from the first leg of their Europa League lat 16 tie against Liverpool and 13 points adrift of Leicester City in the Premier League title race, Martial's strike has offered blessed relief for Van Gaal.
United will now have a replay at what will be the last Cup tie to be staged at West Ham's Boleyn Ground in the Londoners' final season there before they move to the Olympic Stadium.
© 2024 Rediff.com -