LONDON (AP) – Theo Walcott ended a frustrating season by scoring the first goal as Arsenal won a record 12th FA Cup football title Saturday with a dominant 4-0 victory over Aston Villa in the final at Wembley Stadium.
Walcott, who missed most of 2014 with a knee injury sustained in an FA Cup game, volleyed home a shot in the 40th minute to put defending champion Arsenal ahead.
Alexis Sanchez doubled the lead with a fierce 25-yard shot that dipped in via the underside of the crossbar before Per Mertesacker scored with a header in the 62nd. Olivier Giroud completed the win in injury time.
“It was amazing,” Walcott said. “Any win is fantastic. The manner we did it today was great, we played great football and kept a clean sheet. We always knew if we kept a clean sheet we were going to score goals and win the game.”
After a nine-year trophy drought, Arsenal have now won the Cup two years in a row, overtaking Manchester United’s record of 11 titles.
The win also meant Arsene Wenger tied the record for Cup victories by a manager with six, level with Villa’s George Ramsay, who won his last title in 1920.
“It’s something I’m very proud of,” Wenger said. “If no one has done it (in modern times) it means it’s very difficult.”
“They deserved to win the game, no arguments about that,” Villa manager Tim Sherwood said. “Today we couldn’t nullify their threat and we couldn’t manage to impose ourselves on them either.”
