Van Persie Goals Rally Arsenal past Aston Villa

Van Persie Goals Rally Arsenal past Aston Villa
Jojo Doria

London, England

Robin Van Persie slotted two penalty kicks goals in the second half as Arsenal rallied from a two-goal deficit to defeat Aston Villa, 3-2, at Emirates Stadium.

Van Persie, who scored 19 goals in the English Premier League this season, was in his element again as he calmly kicked two penalty kick attempts into the goal to lead Arsenal's furious second-half rally.

Aston Villa took a 2-0 lead courtesy of first-half goals from Darren Bent (32nd minute) and Richard Dunne (First-half stoppage time).

However, Van Persie and company came through with a strong second half performance, unleashing an aggressive offensive plot.

Aaron Ramsey drew a foul from Richard Dunne, setting up Van Persie to score the first tally of the night for Arsenal in the 54th minute.

Two minutes later, Theo Walcott leveled the score at 2-2 after making a lucky shot in the 57th minute.

Finally, with the game hanging in the balance, Laurent Koscielny darted into Villa's defense and successfully drew a foul from Darren Bent.

Van Persie beat Villa's goaltender Shay Given on his way to giving Arsenal 3-2 victory on their home turf.

With the win, Arsenal progressed into the fifth round of the FA Cup, where they expect to meet the winner of the match between Sunderland and Middlesbrough, which played to a 1-1 draw.