Arsenal advance to the fourth round of the FA Cup to face Manchester City thanks to goals from Mohammed Elneny and a brace from Eddie Nketiah

The third division side put up a brave home fight for the Premier League leaders, managing to hold Arsenal without a shot on goal in the first half.

But the gulf in class and quality became apparent in the second half when the Gunners finally broke the tie through Elneny’s goal which led to the floodgates opening.

Arsenal had to wait until the 55th minute for their first shot on target when Bukayo Saka beat the keeper with a trademark left-footed shot, but Lewis Bate was perfectly positioned to clear the goal line.

That opportunity signaled that Arsenal had finally made it into the game after being passive in the opening 55 minutes, but was brought back to life through Elneny’s header, as the Egyptian midfielder connected with Fabio Vieira’s pinpoint cross just three minutes into the match. hour stamp.

From there, Arsenal became fashionable and Oxford capitulated, again Vieira with a precious assist, this time from Nketiah, who rounded off the goalkeeper and put it on goal on 70′.

Nketiah grabbed his brace and Arsenal’s third to close out the result with another clever finish, this time a delicate strike past the rushing goalkeeper after being wonderfully intercepted by a Gabriel Martinelli pass.

The only problem in an almost perfect second half for Mikel Arteta’s men would be Bukayo Saka’s injury which led to him being replaced by Emil Smith-Rowe and the Gunners would hope it was nothing serious.

Arsenal will now face their toughest challenge yet with Manchester City awaiting them as their next FA Cup opponent in the fourth round.