Full-time: Arsenal 2 Middlesbrough 0

THIS was an afternoon when Middlesbrough, after memorably dumping the Premier League champions out in the fourth round, were no match for the reigning FA Cup winners as chants of ‘Wembley’ echoed around the Emirates Stadium.

But judging by the noise at the final whistle from more than 5,000 travelling supporters after Arsenal booked a place in the quarter-finals at their expense, there is still a huge confidence that this season can still get even better for those from Teesside.

Despite running Liverpool so close in the Capital One Cup in September and outfoxing Manchester City last month, Boro simply had no answer to the Gunners during a first half when two goals in two minutes from Olivier Giroud were exactly what they deserved.

Aitor Karanka, who had the look of frustration on his face at the end, had his pride dented to have been beaten by Arsene Wenger’s Champions League chasers in front of the TV cameras, the  there was very little despondency echoing from the away end.

A run to the fifth round has been a nice distraction, it might even have helped with the bigger picture, but Karanka knows that there can be no FA Cup hangover when the Championship’s promotion favourites head for Birmingham on Wednesday.

Middlesbrough, who hit the post late on through Kike, could not come to terms with Arsenal initially and that proved costly, but the main aim is to seal a return to the Premier League and the fans singing ‘we are going up’ long after the final whistle clearly still think that is going to happen.

Karanka was so keen to have stunned Arsenal – like they did to City – that he rested a number of players for the midweek trip to Blackpool in preparation. It soon became clear why Middlesbrough were in need of such fresh legs, with Arsenal completely dominating the possession.

It was clearly a tactic of the Spanish head coach to allow the Gunners the ball, with two banks of four Boro shirts seemingly satisfied to set up and try to make it difficult for those wearing red and white to spread the ball from side to side.

If it had stayed that way then Middlesbrough - who have effectively worked their way in to an automatic promotion spot in the league - might have fared better. Instead the creativity that was in the Arsenal ranks regularly displayed an intention to find a pass in behind the visitors’ defence too.

Goalkeeper Tomas Mejias, selected ahead of Dimi Konstantopoulos for an FA Cup game like he was at the Etihad, had already been forced in to a couple of saves before Giroud’s clinical opening goal in the 27th minute.

Santi Cazorla, dictating things throughout as a deep-lying midfielder even if he regularly moved forward, was the first to go close. His delightful free-kick from 22 yards was destined for the bottom right corner before Mejias did well to turn it behind for a corner.

The former Real Madrid keeper was more fortunate to see his half hearted stop from Giroud’s shot from the edge of the area end up in the side netting when Alexis Sanchez pounced on the rebound at a tight angle.

But Middlesbrough, who had not even been near to Wojciech Szczesny’s goal, were carved open too cheaply and it was Giroud who was on hand to capitalise.

After a lovely free-flowing move deep in to the Middlesbrough half, Santi Cazorla picked out an overlapping run from England full-back Kieran Gibbs beyond Tottenham loan man Ryan Fredericks. Gibbs had the time and space to spot his team-mate in front of goal and Giroud instinctively powered a first time shot beneath Mejias.

With Middlesbrough temporarily deflated, the former Montpellier striker soon added his seventh goal in just 11 FA Cup outings less than two minutes later. This time his movement in the box got him away from George Friend and Kike to enable him to meet Sanchez’s corner with a sweet first time volley.

Despite Middlesbrough’s best efforts, the quality of Arsenal’s first half performance meant it was hardly a surprise for Wenger’s side to be two up at the break. The men from North London were well and truly in the mood.

With the exception of an Albert Adomah shot from 20 yards that was comfortably held by Szczesny after the winger had been invited to run and shoot, Middlesbrough had struggled to keep the ball from an Arsenal man never mind make a substantial impression.

Middlesbrough had to find a way of giving Mesut Ozil, who worked with Karanka at Real Madrid, and Cazorla less time on the ball to influence the game; actually coming up with a plan to do that, though, was more difficult.

After an early foray forward after the restart, normal service was resumed soon enough and Arsenal had a couple of wayward shots off goal from distance before Danny Welbeck should have hit the target when he burst in behind the back four moments before Adam Reach and Jelle Vossen were introduced by Karanka.

Reach, particularly, did what he was asked of him. He made a burst deep in to the Arsenal half and exposed new £15m signing Gabriel, who was booked for thwarting the young winger with an intentional block.

Despite Middlesbrough’s best efforts to try to make more of an impression after that, they still struggled to pose a threat to Szczesny’s goal. While the Polish goalkeeper was largely a bystander, Mejias was still regularly tested at the opposite end.

He made a couple of routine stops, but his one-handed save low to his bottom left corner to prevent Sanchez’s flicked header from nestling in to his net was top class and left what little hope there was in the away end intact with 64 minutes gone.

Middlesbrough saw more of the ball in the final third after that without ever seriously looking like they would pull a goal back, but Arsenal still fashioned the better openings.

The best of which was when Mejias did well to turn behind Theo Walcott’s low shot after the England man burst behind the back four.

Arsenal might have gone through, despite a late header from Kike which hit the post, but Middlesbrough could still be the side with more to celebrate come May.