Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, with two well-taken goals against Manchester City, fired Arsenal at the FA Cup final this year.
Even though the Gunners were under greater pressure for big game spells, their Gabonese forwards were clinical with their chances when it mattered.
City dominated the opening stages, with Arsenal’s defense looking jittery in possession, especially when trying to play from the back.
But it was Arsenal who would break the deadlock as Aubameyang, moments after missing a fine one-on-one chance, turned home Nicolas Pepe ‘s deep cross.
City could not force a response before the Arsenal interval was close to doubling its lead as Shkodran Mustafi’s header was tilted over by Ederson.
Arteta would have been delighted to be in half-time with the lead, especially given how the game started on his side.
In the second half, City produced a lot of chances and a penalty was denied, as VAR and Arbitrator Jon Moss decided that Raheem Sterling had not been tripped by Mustafi.
Such mistakes came back to haunt the FA Cup holders with 20 minutes remaining when Arsenal burst out on the counter-attack and Aubameyang raced to Kieran Tierney ‘s pass to comfortably slot home his second and double the lead.
There was no return for City who had lost three semifinals of the FA Cup, all to Arsenal.