Arsenal Tops Portsmouth to Reach FA Cup Quarterfinals

Arsenal coasted to the quarterfinals of the FA Cup, beating Portsmouth 2-0 Monday to kick off the fifth round of the competition.

Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Eddie Nketiah score the goals, sandwiching halftime with a pair of strikes after Portsmouth had kept it tight for the first 45 minutes.

It was in first-half stoppage time that Sokratis struck for the opener, which Reiss Nelson's cross whipped home by the Greek center back after a set piece wasn't fully cleared initially by the League One hosts.

Nketiah doubled the advantage in the 51st minute, squeezing through the defense on a near-post run and tucking in the insurance goal off another Nelson cross.

Arsenal, which suffered cup disappointment last Thursday in a stunning Europa League defeat to Olympiakos, made nine changes to its lineup and bounced back on the domestic cup front and is guaranteed a place in the final eight as it looks to pad its all-time record total of 13 FA Cup triumphs. It wasn't all good news for the Gunners, though, as Lucas Torreira was stretched off and replaced by Dani Ceballos after being taken out by a strong James Bolton challenge.

The rest of the round is headlined by Tuesday's Chelsea-Liverpool clash at Stamford Bridge and Thursday's Derby County-Man United matchup that pits Wayne Rooney against his former club.

Man City, fresh off winning the League Cup and the reigning FA Cup champion, is also in action this week, playing at Sheffield Wednesday.

Elsewhere on Tuesday, Reading hosts Sheffield United and West Brom hosts Newcastle; and on Wednesday, Leicester faces Birmingham City, and Tottenham welcomes Norwich City to London.