Robin van Persie netted twice from the penalty spot as Arsenal came from two goals down to beat Aston Villa 3-2 at the Emirates Stadium and book their place in the FA Cup fifth round.

Richard Dunne and Darren Bent had put the visitors in command at the break but the Gunners were given a lifeline at the start of the second half when Dunne upended Aaron Ramsey, and Van Persie coolly dispatched the resulting spot-kick.

Within two minutes, Theo Walcott had levelled via a fortunate ricochet and then another penalty from their captain completed the turnaround to send Arsene Wenger's men through to the last 16 against Sunderland or Middlesbrough.

Arsenal - who had lost three successive Barclays Premier League games to lose ground on the top four - started quickly.

Thomas Vermaelen lashed a 25-yard strike goalwards after being set up from a free-kick by Van Persie, though Villa keeper Shay Given touched over.

On 13 minutes, Walcott collected Tomas Rosicky's pass and skipped into the Villa box, but could only blast his shot past the near post.

Despite being pegged back, Villa defended resolutely and looked dangerous on the break through Bent and Keane.

Gabriel Agbonlahor broke away for Villa down the near side, but then sent his cross too deep through the Arsenal penalty area.
It was no real surprise when the visitors took the lead on 33 minutes.

A well-worked corner saw Stiliyan Petrov's backheel release Keane, who floated the ball through the Arsenal six-yard box where Dunne got up above a static defence to power in a header.