Theo Walcott scored his 100th goal in an Arsenal shirt as the Gunners overcame a potential banana skin on Monday night, beating non-league side Sutton United 2-0 in their FA Cup fifth round tie.

Playing on Sutton’s 3-G pitch was always going to be a challenge for Arsenal, but they recovered from their midweek Champions League mauling at the hands of Bayern Munich fairly well.

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An unfamiliar front-three of Alex Iwobi, Theo Walcott and Lucas Perez started as Wenger chose to rest some of his stars, sending out a team of fringe players and youth prospects. 19-year-old Jeff Reine-Adelaide was in midfield and young centre-back Rob Holding partnered Shkodran Mustafi in the defence while Arsene Wenger continued his trend of picking David Ospina for cup ties.

Lucas Perez opened the scoring in slightly fortuitous fashion for the away side, as the Gunners launched a rapid counter attack which left Sutton reeling. He cut in from the right onto his favoured left foot and sent in a low cross-shot into the far corner, which somehow evaded Walcott’s boot and Sutton goalkeeper Ross Worner’s palms. 
With just three minutes remaining before the half-hour mark, Arsenal had a crucial lead.

Despite having a stranglehold on possession, the Gunners were unable to fashion too many meaningful chances, as they tried to get to grips with Sutton’s artificial turf pitch.

And just a minute before half time, disaster almost struck for the visitors when Ospina made a hash of his clearance, gifting Adam May the ball on the edge of the box. The midfielder, however, could not finish from his weaker left foot, as Wenger breathed a huge sigh of relief on the sidelines.

Post the interval, Sutton admirably pressed for an equaliser and went close when Bedsente Gomis dispossessed Nacho Monreal in the box, but was unable to pull the trigger and the chance fizzled out.

And within minutes of almost conceding, Arsenal doubled their lead with an excellent team move with Walcott applying the finishing touches to bring up a century of goals since his move to the North London side in 2006.

Granit Xhaka passed to Perez who laid it off for Iwobi, who in turn released Monreal on the wing and the fullback’s cross took a slight deflection before reaching Walcott, who finished with his weaker foot to put the result beyond doubt.

The travelling Gunners support broke into chants of  “Theo, Theo” as their captain on the night celebrated with his teammates on a landmark goal for the club.

Arsenal’s reward for beating Sutton is a home fixture against non-league Lincoln City, who upset Burnley on Saturday. Their quarterfinal is scheduled for the 11th of March at the Etihad Stadium and Wenger knows they have an ‘easy’ path to the last four, compared to the likes of Manchester United and Chelsea, who face each other on the same day.