A hat-trick from Matt Jansen and a goal from Mark Hughes sent a second-string Arsenal side tumbling out of the Worthington Cup and put Blackburn Rovers through to the semi-finals. Arsene Wenger's decision to rest several of this top players - Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira, Dennis Bergkamp, Sol Campbell, Lauren, Ashley Cole, Ray Parlour and Fredrik Ljungberg - backfired as a full-strength Rovers side tore them apart at Ewood Park.
Although Arsenal fielded what could only be described as a reserve team, it did include five internationals, notably Kanu and Sylvain Wiltord and so tonight's result should not be seen as a meaningless victory. It took Rovers a mere 11 minutes to gain the lead. Tugay caught Inamoto dithering in midfield and found Jansen making a break on the right. Jansen then wrong-footed Upson before firing a curling shot into the top corner of the net.
Four minutes later it was 2-0 as Jansen once again got the better of the Arsenal defence. This time, he re-directed an off-target shot from Tugay into an empty net. In the 21st minute, Rovers added a third thanks to yet more poor defending from the Gunners' back four. Giovanni van Bronckhorst made a poor effort at heading the ball out of danger and it landed at David Dunn's feet. Martin Keown blocked his shot but the ball fell to Hughes who coolly slotted home past Taylor.
Blackburn continued to hound the Arsenal defence in the second-half and although several substitutions by Arsene Wenger gave his midfield more bite than they showed in the opening 45 minutes, it was Blackburn who scored again. Their fourth goal arrived on 69 minutes when Jansen completed his hat-trick with a left-footed strike after being fed a neat pass from Irish international winger Damien Duff.
Arsenal never looked like causing any major problems for the Blackburn defence and tonight's poor performance will surely give Wenger some food for thought (and one less competition to worry about). However, for Rovers boss Graeme Souness, remains an excellent chance for unexpected glory.
Filed by Amanda Fennelly
