Arsene Wenger was pleased with his team's response against Liverpool, as Arsenal exorcised the demons of last week's 5-1 defeat at Anfield.
Goals from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Lukas Podolski were enough to edge a 2-1 win over the Reds, just eight days after their Premier League humbling, which sends the Gunners in to the last eight of The FA Cup.
Steven Gerrard netted a 59th-minute penalty to set up an exciting finale at the Emirates.
But despite the visitor's efforts late on, Arsenal held out to record a score-settling victory which puts Liverpool out of the competition and sets up a Sixth Round home tie with Everton.
Arsenal 2-1 Liverpool
The FA Cup with Budweiser
Fifth Round
Sunday 16 February 2014
The Emirates
Winners receive £180,000 from FA Prize Fund
"It was vital for us to respond to the disappointing perfomance we had against Liverpool last week, and vital because we had the opportunity to go to the quarter final of The FA Cup." Wenger said after the match.
"I'm very pleased with the intensity of our commitment and determination. You could feel there was a clinical desire in my team to take every opportunity.
"That's why I think it was a great game between two good teams. Overall it was a fantastic FA Cup tie."
He continued: "Liverpool is a very strong team and they had some chances, but you should not forget that we had some very good chances as well.
Highlights of Sunday's game at the Emirates
"They were in a position where they had to take the initiative and throw absolutely everything at us. They are good enough to create chances against any team. But we were resilient and focused on defending well."
Wenger made five changes to the starting line-up from the side who lost on Merseyside, and one of those coming in - goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski - produced a string of saves to prevent the in-form Reds from adding to their season's impressive tally.
And a crucial stop from a Luis Suarez strike just before Podolski grabbed Arsenal's second vindicated his inclusion.
"I made changes, some for medical reasons, most of them in fact, and some for technical reasons," he explained.
"The goalkeeper plays always and I rate Fabianski so highly that I had no hesitation at all to play him."
