Max Dowman, on his first start since returning from an ankle injury, spurned an early chance to give Arsenal the lead by fluffing a one-v-one with goalkeeper Liam Roberts, while Kepa Arrizabalaga made two fine saves to deny Mansfield down the other end during a frantic opening 12 minutes.
Noni Madueke, who had cannoned a corner straight against the post earlier in the game, opened the scoring with a fine curling effort on the stroke of half-time, firing home from around 18 yards after Roberts had kept out his initial attempt for Arsenal's 100th goal in all competitions this season.
But on the other side of half-time, Mansfield levelled the scores. Teenage starter Marli Salmon played a sloppy pass back towards Cristhian Mosquera and the ball was intercepted by substitute Will Evans, who scampered away from the Spanish defender and slotted under Kepa.
Arsenal ought to have regained the lead when Madueke sprinted clear of the Mansfield defence and played it wide for Dowman to square back for Gabriel Jesus to tap in, but his shot was cleared off the line. With their next attack, however, the Gunners did go 2-1 up, with Eberechi Eze, brought on as a substitute, swivelling away from his man and lashing a strike into the top corner from the edge of the penalty area.
Roberts made another fine stop to keep out Bukayo Saka shortly after the England star was thrown on, but that was as close as this compelling game came to another goal as Arteta's side held on to book their spot in the next round and keep their dreams of an unprecedented quadruple alive.
GOAL rates Arsenal's players from the One Call Stadium...
