Relegation threatened Hull City welcome the Gunners to the KC stadium as the two teams battle it out for the third time this season. While Arsenal, will look to leap frog Manchester City to second place, the Tigers will look to get a point at least as they are just one point away from the drop zone.
The North London club come into this game on the back of a disappointing draw against Premier League champions Chelsea. While a draw didn’t do any harm, a win would have kept the title race alive. However, vintage Arsenal would have given away a goal on the counter attack looking for a goal themselves against sides like Chelsea, who are happy to park their buses until the driver gets the instruction to drive. It was a mature performance nonetheless and Wenger’s boys go into this game with a lot of confidence and a good weeks rest.
It wouldn’t be a surprise if we see Wenger making a few changes to the line-up as the Champions League spot is more or less secured, after Manchester United slipped up this against West Brom on Saturday, with Van Persie missing a penalty. I laughed.
“Finishing second means we are better than 18 teams. You want more because you want to finish first but, still, all the teams behind you would exchange [their place for] that” Wenger said.
Alexis Sanchez has scored in both games against Hull this season and he will again be the player to watch. Wenger has a full squad to choose from, with only Debuchy nursing an injury which he picked up during training. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Diaby trained with the team, but Wenger is highly unlikely to pick any of them.
Hull, on the other hand, come into the game with a morale boosting 1-0 victory over Liverpool. Steve Bruce’s men absolutely shut out the reds and Michael Dawson’s goal saw them through. Teams that fight relegation have everything to play for and hence, Hull will come out all guns blazing looking for a result.
They have won their last two and have also kept clean sheets in both of them, which again reinforces the fact that they are more than pushovers going into this important game. David Meyler comes back into the squad after completing a three match ban following his red card at Swansea last month. Top scorer and striker Nikica Jelavic has also returned to full training but it looks to be seen if Steve Bruce will change a winning formula ahead of the game tonight.
Arsenal have drawn one and won one against the Tigers this season, with the last match being a comfortable 2-0 victory in the FA cup which saw Sanchez scoring one and assisting another for the Gunners.
Koscielny is poised to make his 200th appearance for Wenger’s team.
Hull have lost their last five of their six premier league games against Arsenal, but considering the unpredictability of the Premier League, the KC awaits an interesting contest.
Can Arsenal get past a resilient Hull side?
