Arsenal were forced to come from behind to book their place in the fourth round of the FA Cup, eventually running out 2-1 winners over a spirited Preston North End this evening.
The Championship side took a deserved lead into half time courtesy of Callum Robinson's early strike, but second-half goals from Aaron Ramsey and Olivier Giroud maintained Arsene Wenger's record of never having lost an FA Cup third-round match.
Preston had only won one of their last 15 FA Cup matches against top-flight opposition heading into today's match, but it took them just seven minutes to break the deadlock against the Gunners when Robinson pounced on a loose ball inside the area and stroked it past David Ospina.
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It was another torrid first-half showing from Arsenal to follow on from Tuesday's 3-3 draw at Bournemouth, but they did threaten an equaliser 16 minutes in when Lucas Perez fired a deflected effort into the arms of Chris Maxwell.
The best chances continued to fall to the home side, though, and Robinson almost doubled his personal tally midway through the half when he combined with Jordan Hugill before seeing his header blocked by Shkodran Mustafi.
The same pair squandered another glorious chance just two minutes later when Robinson beat the offside trap to race through down the right channel, but his subsequent pass was just too far in front of Hugill, who would have been left with a simple tap-in.
Ben Pearson was a key part of preventing Arsenal from settling into the match and he was the next to come close with a dipping effort that Ospina was forced to awkwardly shovel away.
Daniel Johnson also threatened with a low curling effort that skimmed narrowly wide before Arsenal finally created their first real chances of the match shortly past the half-hour mark.
Aaron Ramsey had the first sight of goal when he collected Giroud's flick inside the box, but he couldn't get his shot away and Lucas was unable to make anything of the rebound.
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Alex Iwobi then found Giroud unmarked inside the box with a clever reverse pass, but the France international got his attempted chip over the keeper all wrong and the ball ended up closer to the corner flag.
Preston were soon back on the attack themselves, though, and they almost doubled their lead moments later when Paul Gallagher combined with Hugill before lifting his finish over Ospina, only for Nacho Monreal to get back and clear the ball off the line.
The Gunners immediately broke up the other end and had a chance of their own seconds later when Ramsey steered a header towards goal, but Maxwell did well to hold on.
Arsenal went into half time fortunate to only be trailing by one goal, and Preston were made to rue their missed opportunities less than a minute after the restart when Ramsey levelled things up with a thumping finish from the edge of the area.
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Having been hanging on for the majority of the first half, the visitors suddenly found themselves in the ascendancy, although clear-cut chances were still tough to come by for the Premier League outfit.
Arsenal did almost take the lead with just under 20 minutes remaining when Mustafi met a low Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain corner at the near post, but his crisp first-time effort was kept out by a smart reaction stop from Maxwell.
The Gunners did have the ball in the back of the net in the 77th minute when Giroud volleyed Lucas's pass home from close range, but his celebrations were cut short by the linesman's flag.
There was good news for Wenger's side when Danny Welbeck made his long-awaited return from injury as a late substitute, but it was Giroud who was the hero once again late on as he swept home the winner with one minute of normal time remaining having been set up by a clever back-heel from Lucas.
Welbeck almost marked his return with a goal deep into stoppage time when his shot was turned over by Maxwell, but there was no time for Preston to respond to going behind as they were harshly dumped out of the FA Cup by the 12-time winners.
Barney Corkhill
