Olivier Giroud ended his Arsenal goal drought as the Gunners swept into the League Cup fourth round with a 6-1 demolition of Coventry at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday.
Giroud had gone six matches without scoring following his pre-season move from Montpellier, but the France striker was finally on the scoresheet with the first goal of Arsenal's emphatic third round win.
Even though he netted his long-awaited first Arsenal goal, it was still a far from convincing evening for Giroud who wasted a chance to double his goal tally when his second half penalty was saved.
Arsenal were still far too strong for League One strugglers Coventry and further goals from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Andrey Arshavin, Ignasi Miquel and Theo Walcott, who struck twice, emphasised the hosts' superiority.
By the time Callum Ball scored for Coventry late in the second half, there was no way back for Mark Robins' side.
It could have been different if Stephen Elliott had converted a great chance to open the scoring for the visitors in the early stages.
But Giroud finally delivered in the 39th minute as he beat the offside trap and kept his composure to chip over the onrushing Joe Murphy.
But the striker fluffed his chance for a second after Reece Brown mistimed his clearance and then fouled Arshavin in the penalty area.
Giroud stepped up but his low penalty was saved superbly by Murphy, diving low to his right.
Arsenal doubled their lead in the 57th minute when England winger Oxlade-Chamberlain fired home from 25 yards.
Then Oxlade-Chamberlain and Giroud combined to set up Arshavin to score on his first start of the season six minutes later.
Gunners midfielder Emmanuel Frimpong was introduced from the bench with 15 minutes to go, making his return from a long-term knee injury sustained when on-loan at Wolves last season.
And Arsenal made it 4-0 in the 74th minute when Nico Yennaris played a through-ball to Walcott, who burst clear of the defence to slot home.
Substitute Ball reacted quicker than the Arsenal defence to reduce the deficit with a close-range effort in the 78th minute.
But Spanish defender Miquel climbed at the back post to head home Arshavin's pinpoint cross for his first Arsenal goal two minutes later and Walcott completed the rout in the 90th minute.
Source: AFP
