Van Persie and Walcott celebrate

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Arsenal 3-2 Aston Villa

Arsenal put in a superb second-half performance to recover from two goals down to beat Aston Villa 3-2 in the FA Cup fourth round.

The hosts started the brighter, with Shay Given making a flying save from a Thomas Vermaelen free-kick just five minutes in.

Arsenal continued to have most of the play as the half progressed, but failed to carve out too many clear chances, before being caught on the counter with just over half-an-hour played. A short corner was played back to Robbie Keane on the left and his lofted ball to the far post was headed home from close range by the arriving Richard Dunne.

Right on the stroke of half-time it was 2-0 as a quick counter-attack saw Stephen Ireland play in Darren Bent on the right and, after his initial effort was blocked by Lukasz Fabianski, the England striker slid home the rebound from a tight angle.

The second half saw a complete reversal in fortunes, starting nine minutes in when Dunne brought down Aaron Ramsey and Robin Van Persie coolly converted from the spot.

Theo Walcott then drew his side level when he weaved to the by-line and, after seeing his shot blocked, Alan Hutton’s attempted clearance hit the Gunners man and went into the net.

Just past the hour mark it was 3-2 to the home side as Bent brought down Laurent Koscielny and Van Persie despatched his second penalty into the opposite corner to the first, with Given again going the wrong way.

Villa huffed and puffed to try and get back on level terms, but they failed to trouble Fabianski further and the Gunners celebrated a famous win at the final whistle.