A late and contentious penalty from Cesc Fabregas spared Arsenal embarrassment with a 2-1 win at home to Huddersfield in the fourth round of the FA Cup.
After Nicklas Bendtner went down very easily under Jamie McCombe’s challenge, substitute Fabregas rolled the ball into the bottom right 86 minutes into a topsy-turvy clash that saw Arsenal reduced to 10 men on 40 minutes when Sebastien Squillaci was shown a straight red card.
An own-goal from Peter Clarke had put Arsenal ahead, with a trademark Alan Lee header levelling midway through the second half.
Arsenal now remain the only club with a possibility of winning four major trophies, in the final of the Carling Cup and still in with a shout for Premier League and Champions League titles.
Andrei Arshavin was in the thick of the first-half action, showing some great touches but also some poor ones as, from good positions, he blasted one effort over and another straight at keeper Ian Bennett.
He also created some great opportunities with his mazy dribbles, Bendtner missing one gilt-edged chance when he put wide from four yards and the Russian himself firing against the post after a brilliant run inside from the left.
The hosts took a deserved lead when, seconds after kicking air in a comedy miss, Bendtner fired in a low shot that took a huge deflection off Clarke to nestle in the bottom left.
Huddersfield felt aggrieved as Marouane Chamakh appeared to handle the ball in the build-up and they almost responded with an equaliser when Alan Lee flicked the ball wide from Andy Pilkington’s superb low cross.
While Arsenal were hogging possession they were also flirting with the self-destruct button, Denilson doing his bit with a rotten back-pass to Lee, who played Pilkington in, his finish too close to the recalled Manuel Almunia.
Pilkington had another chance which he should have taken, given a free header when Kieran Gibbs inexcusably let him go, but the winger nodded wide.
Soon afterwards Arsenal were down to 10 men when full-back Jack Hunt went on a scintillating run, eventually brought down by last man Squillaci: the Frenchman’s lack of pace was again exposed after hesitant defending from partner Laurent Koscielny, and he was shown a straight red by Mark Clattenburg to give Huddersfield hope.
With Arsenal a man short the Terriers snapped at them from the start of the second half.
Arsenal had the first chance as Arshavin fired into the side netting after substitute Tomas Rosicky – on for the injured Samir Nasri – played him through.
But after that Huddersfield had a succession of superb opportunities as Arshavin denied Gudjonsson with a wonderful slide tackle at the far post, while Almunia made one of the saves of the season to claw Lee’s header away from the bottom-left corner.
Joey Gudjonsson and Hunt again had efforts fly just wide before Lee rose to power in a superb header from Pilkington’s excellent corner, drawing level on 66 minutes.
With a man advantage and Arsenal’s defence clearly struggling Huddersfield should have taken the game by the scruff of the neck but, after the goal, it was Arsenal who stepped it up thanks to the introduction of Fabregas and an increase in tempo.
Koscielny was denied by McCombe’s block, while Bendtner headed over immediately afterwards and, on 72 minutes, inexplicably took a touch to allow McCombe time to block when Arshavin brilliantly teed him up for an easy finish.
Clarke then made a great last-man tackle on Bendtner after Fabregas played him in,while Hunt blocked Arshavin’s finish soon after.
Arsenal were looking the more likely and, while the 86th-minute winner was deserved, the penalty was dubious at best. Fabregas’s pass across the face of goal was superb but it was very harsh to penalise McCombe when at worst he brushed the back of Bentnder, who appeared to stumble more than anything.
Fabregas stepped up and, with a dummy run and a cool low finish, sent Arsenal into the fifth round as their challenge for four titles continues.
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