Watford 2 Arsenal 4
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| Thierry Henry celebrates opening the scoring for Arsenal at Vicarage Road (© Reuters) |
05/01/02: Arsenal eased to a 4-2 victory over first division Watford this afternoon to become the first team through to the fourth round of the FA Cup.
Goals by Thierry Henry, Fredrik Ljungberg, Nwankwo Kanu and Dennis Bergkamp secured victory for the top-flight side, with Watford's consolation strikes coming from Gifton Noel-Williams and Marcus Gayle.
Arsenal, runners-up in the competition last season, were 2-0 up at Vicarage Road after only 10 minutes.
Kanu set up Henry, who rounded Watford keeper Alec Chamberlain to score from close range, and two minutes later the prolific French striker squared the ball for Ljungberg to tap home into an empty net.
A towering header from Noel-Williams in the 13th minute gave Watford hope, but Patrick Vieira crossed for Kanu to head Arsenal's third goal midway through the second half and substitute Bergkamp added a fourth six minutes from time.
Gayle scored with a powerful shot from a tight angle in injury-time, but Watford, managed by former Chelsea boss Gianluca Vialli, were already well beaten.
Elsewhere, West Brom caused the first major shock of this season's Cup when they dumped Sunderland out of the tournament.
Gary Megson's team achieved their victory the hard way coming back from a goal down to register a 2-1 win at the Stadium of Light and book a place in the fourth round.
Sunderland striker Kevin Phillips ended his six game goal drought with an overhead kick after 11 minutes.
But a Neil Clement penalty in the 21st minute put West Brom level and they then twice hit the woodwork before Andy Johnson's header in the 61st minute gave the Birmingham side a deserved win.
Earlier, the third-round match between Wycombe Wanderers and Fulham was called off, but non-league Dagenhan & Redbridge v Ipswich Town, Leicester City v Mansfield and Grimsby Town v York were all given the go-ahead.
There were 10 more third-round ties scheduled for later today, with a further five on Sunday. A total of 11 matches have been postponed because of bad weather across the country.