Arsenal, Bradford and Aston Villa all reached the quarterfinals of the FA Cup with victories over Middlesbrough, Sunderland and Leicester respectively.
There was to be no repeat of Middlesbrough's heroics in the last round when they stunned Manchester City, as Arsenal recorded a comfortable 2-0 victory at Emirates Stadium on Sunday.
Giroud broke the deadlock in the 27th minute as he tucked away from close range following a slick move that culminated in Kieran Gibbs crossing for the France international.
The Arsenal striker grabbed his second of the game just two minutes later when he acted quickest to get on the end of an Alexis Sanchez corner, flicking in emphatically to put his side in a comfortable position.
League One side Bradford beat Premier League side Sunderland 2-0 to book their place in the FA Cup quarterfinals for the first time in 39 years amid uproarious scenes at Valley Parade on Sunday.
Billy Clarke's deflected third-minute effort — which goes down as a John O'Shea own goal — and a cool 61st-minute finish from Jon Stead saw the Bantams build on their stunning fourth-round win over Chelsea by dispatching Gus Poyet's Sunderland with ease.
Tim Sherwood saw his new Aston Villa side edge into the FA Cup quarterfinals with a 2-1 win over Leicester at Villa Park.
Sherwood had a watching brief but after a goalless opening 45 minutes, his half-time team talk seemed to galvanise Villa and goals from Leandro Bacuna and Scott Sinclair settled a scrappy game.
Andrej Kramaric netted an injury-time consolation for the Foxes but they could not force a replay.
