Today’s back pages: Arsenal’s young guns ease into FA Cup quarter-finals and Sturridge is ‘devastated’ by ban

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Young Gunners reach the quarters

Arsenal’s 2-0 win at Portsmouth in the fifth round of the FA Cup last night dominates the back pages with most newspapers illustrating the victory with a photograph of a smiling Eddie Nketiah.

The youngster scored the second of the Gunners’s goals and was one of six players in the Arsenal line-up aged 20 or under.

One of the old-timers, 31-year-old Sokratis Papastathopoulos, had given the visitors the lead at the end of the first half with a crisp volley and Nketiah then doubled the advantage shortly after the break.

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“Ready Eddie go!” is the Daily Mail’s headline, while the Independent declares that “young Gunners past test”.

The Daily Mirror describes Arsenal’s win against their League One opponents as a “cup cruise” but adorns its back page with a picture of a crumpled Lucas Torreira.

The South American was laid low by what The Sun calls a “heavy challenge” from James Bolton, and the paper says he left Fratton Park in a leg brace and on crutches.

FA Cup fifth round results and fixtures

• Last night: Portsmouth 0 Arsenal 2
• Tonight: Chelsea vs. Liverpool (7.45pm, live on BBC One); Reading vs. Sheffield United (8pm, live on BBC iPlayer); West Bromwich Albion vs. Newcastle United (8pm, live on Facebook)
• Tomorrow: Leicester City vs. Birmingham City (7.45pm, live on Facebook); Sheffield Wednesday vs. Manchester City (7.45pm, live on BBC One and BBC iPlayer); Tottenham Hotspur vs. Norwich City (7.45pm, live on BBC iPlayer)
• Thursday 5 March: Derby County vs. Manchester United (7.45pm, live on BT Sport)

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Sturridge ‘devastated’

The Independent is one of several papers to report on the punishment meted out to Daniel Sturridge, who has been banned from football for four months for breaching betting rules.

Quoting the former Liverpool striker’s reaction to the ban, the Indy says he is “devastated” at the decision.

The 30-year-old was initially handed a six-week ban last summer, four of which were suspended, but the FA appealed the decision and they won their case with the appeal board also doubling Sturridges’s fine to £150,000.

The Times says that it represents a “significant victory for the FA...[and] reflected the gravity of the case”.

That case concerned potential loan moves from Anfield in January 2018, and according to the Times Sturridge “gave information to Daniel Hemmings, a friend, over the possibility of a move to West Bromwich Albion”.

Having contacted Hemmings about the odds, the former England frontman advised that certain odds were “worth a flutter”.

In response to the ban, his club, Turkish side Trabzonspor, terminated Sturridge’s contract.

Today’s sport headlines

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