SAMIR NASRI was left out of the French World Cup squad last summer. And Arsenal are reaping the rewards as Nasri goes about his one-man mission to prove what a stupid decision that was. Nasri once again proved to be the inspiration as Arsenal finally got through this tricky FA Cup third-round tie at Elland Road. The 23-year-old midfielder has come of age and is enjoying a sensational season, showing why manager Arsene Wenger had enough faith to spend £13million on his talents 2½ years ago. ..... .... ...................
SAMIR NASRI says Arsenal are Gunning for a clean sweep of all four trophies this season.
Nasri, Bacary Sagna and Robin van Persie sunk Leeds last night. And he insisted: "We want to win every game and every competition, so the FA Cup is really important to us. We wanted to start start really strong and not let them believe or take any confidence.
"The pitch was a little bit difficult but we still played our game."
Skipper Cesc Fabregas added: "As Samir said, we want to go all the way in every competition. "Leeds played very, very well at the Emirates. But tonight we were much superior to them. "They were dangerous for a spell after they scored but Arsenal played fantastic football." Arsenal face Huddersfield at home in the fourth round on Sunday week. They are currently third in the Premier League and will bid to overturn a 1-0 first-leg deficit against Ipswich in Tuesday's Carling Cup semi-final. Then there is the small matter of Barcelona in the Champions League.
Boss Arsene Wenger admitted Arsenal had been given a wake-up call in the 1-1 draw with Leeds 11 days earlier. The Gunners boss said: "We got a warning in the first game but we learned the lesson and that shows my players are intelligent. "We showed once again tonight we're hungry." Nasri scored after just five minutes and Sagna made it 2-0.
Bradley Johnson kept Leeds in the hunt with a stunning 30-yarder but sub Van Persie's 76th-minute header killed off the Championship side. Elland Road boss Simon Grayson said: "If you're going to get knocked out it might as well be against one of the best teams in Europe if not the world. "The goal galvanised us. We went out fighting.
"At 2-1 we had a couple of half chances but couldn't quite take them."