Monday night saw Arsenal travel south to League One promotion hopefuls Portsmouth, looking to avoid an upset in the opening game of the FA Cup fifth round.

But Mikel Arteta's side negotiated the potential banana skin impressively well with goals from Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Eddie Nketiah either side of half-time proving to be enough to send them through to the quarter finals and end Pompey's plucky run at the same time.

Whilst some home fans will have undoubtedly left Fratton Park disappointed that they were not able to witness the significant upset they may have been quietly confident of pulling off, it is a result which is actually close to ideal for the club.

The first positive to look at here is the score.

Obviously whenever a lower league side clashes with one of the Premier League's big boys, the first aim is to win and cause a big upset.

QUIZ: Can you name this Portsmouth player based on their date of birth and birthplace?

Given how rare that is, however, the second aim, and usually the more commonly achieved one, is to do yourself proud and Portsmouth certainly did that.

Jackett's side have been somewhat erratic at times this season which has led to plenty of fan frustration as well.

A thrashing at the hands of the Gunners may well have led to more fan angst as well as the player's confidence crumbling at a crucial stage of the season which could have been a fatal combination.

Currently sat in third place, and just three points adrift of the automatic promotion spots, in League One with 13 matches left to play, keeping that momentum is now essential and a respectable 2-0 defeat to Arsenal will do exactly that.

The second positive of the result is the club's fixture congestion. At one stage this season Portsmouth had four games in hand on some of their League One opponents thanks to a host of cancellations for a variety of reasons.

In fact they had to play on both Friday against Rochdale and Monday against Arsenal, whilst the Premier League side had a weekend off.

Whilst a win would have done their publicity a world of good, it could also have proved damaging in their hunt for promotion.

They will have another match rearranged in a few weeks thanks to their success in the EFL Trophy and the demands of playing two matches nearly every week between now and the end of the season could have proven too much for them from a physical perspective.

Of course a win would have been great against Arsenal. The romance in football dictates that the underdog should always want to triumph over a king pin.

However pragmatism also matters and is ultimately something that the majority of fans took into account on the final whistle.

This defeat could prove to be the ideal result for Jackett's men.