Arsenal 0-1 Blackburn Rovers: Gunners Suffer FA Cup Shock (PICTURES)

Nine Long Years?

Arsenal's season plummeted to a new low as Championship side Blackburn Rovers knocked them out of the FA Cup with a shock 1-0 win at the Emirates Stadium.

Turkey international Colin Kazim-Richards scored the only goal of the game with just 20 minutes remaining to send Blackburn through to the quarter-finals for the first time since 2007, when they coincidentally knocked out Arsenal via a replay at Ewood Park.

It was another bad day in the dugout for Wenger

Malcontented Arsenal fans will again be experiencing déjà vu as they debate whether this should be the final season of Arsène Wenger's tenure at the club, as he suffered a first FA Cup loss to a lower league club. They face Bayern Munich in the Champions League next week and barring a Chelsea-like miracle, will go nine years without winning a trophy. When Manchester United experienced a similar drought between 1968 and 1977 they went through four managers.

Soccer - FA Cup - Fifth Round - Arsenal v Blackburn Rovers - Emirates Stadium

Arsenal 0-1 Blackburn

Wenger rested Jack Wilshere, Santi Cazorla, Theo Walcott and Lukas Podolski - four of his main attackers - against Blackburn ahead of Munich's arrival in London on Tuesday. Yet when the Gunners went out of the League Cup at Bradford the Frenchman played a near-full strength side. Most will agree Arsenal had a stronger chance of winning the FA Cup than the Champions League.

Ironically the arrival of Wilshere, Walcott and Cazorla came a minute before Kazim-Richards' fortuitous winner.

Close

What's Hot