Henry and Ljungberg take Arsenal into semi-finals

Portsmouth 1 Arsenal 5

Arsenal demolished proud Portsmouth’s defence with a dazzling exhibition of muscle and magic at Fratton Park, marching closer to a third consecutive FA Cup triumph with this quarter-final display spearheaded by two goals each from Thierry Henry and Freddie Ljungberg.

Brilliant young defender Kolo Toure also weighed in with a goal as well making two others and Portsmouth knew it was certainly not their day when Aiyegbeni Yakubu and Matt Taylor both struck the woodwork in the second half after the Gunners had gone five up.

Teddy Sheringham, who netted in a 1-1 draw at Highbury in September when Portsmouth’s new Premiership ambitions were brighter, eventually came on to fire a Pompey consolation right at the end from Steve Stone’s pass.

But Arsenal ruthlessly stretched their unbeaten FA Cup run to 18 ties since they lost the 2001 final to Liverpool with an unstoppable performance of style and power.

The writing was on the wall for Pompey’s cup dreams from the third minute when Arsenal opened up their defence like a tin can and Jose Antonio Reyes, the 20-year-old Spanish sorcerer replacing old master Dennis Bergkamp, rocketed his 18-yard shot against the crossbar.

Yet such was the fire and belief in Harry Redknapp’s team that Sol Campbell had to make a decisive tackle on Croatian striker Ivica Mornar deep inside the area before Arsenal refound the ambition to parcel up the game and claim a fourth successive semi-final appearance.

In retrospect it was a foregone conclusion once Henry, who was lucky to escape a booking for a crude trip on Taylor, gave them the lead with his 26th goal of the season.

By the time he cheekily lobbed his second and the Gunners’ fourth five minutes after the break, Portsmouth were gasping.

And it was almost too cruel luck on them when Ljungberg, having scored the second and been denied another by an offside flag, benefited from a sharp deflection as he battered home Toure’s through-pass for 5-0 with less than an hour of the contest played.

The fun started for the hordes from North London when Ljungberg’s cross-cum-shot eluded Reyes, via Petri Pasanen’s attempted clearance, but fell for Henry to turn and drive powerfully past Hislop in the 25th minute.

You had to admire Portsmouth’s fighting spirit, but Patrick Vieira and Edu and Gilberto were beginning to boss the midfield for Arsenal and it looked only a matter of time before one of Reyes’ sharp touches got through.

Shaka Hislop, a goalkeeper playing despite a broken finger, had to stick out a foot to stop Edu’s shot and prevent Arsenal going two up in 36 minutes after Ljungberg and Henry carved their way through.

And, after Mornar almost forced home Pompey skipper Nigel Quashie’s low cross at the other end, Finnish defender Pasanen twice did well to hold up Henry as the striker tried to make space for shots.

But there was no stopping Ljungberg doubling Arsenal’s lead two minutes before the break.

Edu took possession 40 yards out, played a simple one-two with Vieira and then laid the ball to his left where Ljungberg cut in to slide his shot home.

Centre back Toure slammed Arsenal’s third in stoppage time at the end of the first half when Pompey failed to clear a Henry corner and Ljungberg, Campbell and Reyes both had attempts before the Ivory Coast defender hit the target.

Redknapp changed his personnel at the start of the second half with Steve Stone and Richard Hughes, the former Arsenal reserve who knocked out Liverpool in the last round, soon joining the fray.

But within five minutes of the restart, Henry delightfully steered the ball past Hislop via a unfortunate skip off the pitch for 4-0 and Ljungberg poached the fifth eight minutes later.

Pompey fans took it well. They rolled out the gallows humour at that stage with a lung-bursting rendition of The Great Escape theme.

But of course, there was no escape, despite some pinball in the Arsenal penalty area and a header by Nigerian striker Yakubu against the bar from Alexei Smertin’s cross.

Then Taylor’s cross-shot also knocked on wood before Sheringham netted and celebrated in front of the Arsenal fans who had berated the former Spurs star from his first appearance on the day.