HomeTeams - PLArsenalHull City vs Arsenal Preview | Team News, Key Men & Stats

Hull City vs Arsenal Preview | Team News, Key Men & Stats

Hull City have enjoyed a rather pleasant return to the English top flight, having won 2 games and drawn 1 out of the 4 they have played so far and host Arsenal in their next league game. Though they come into the game on the back of a draw against Burnley, they have played some good football and will prove to be difficult opposition at home. The Gunners on the other hand come into the game after a gruelling fixture against PSG and will be hoping to put their painful outing behind them with an impressive performance.

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Team News

Hull City

A knee injury keeps club captain and centre-back Michael Dawson out of the game on Saturday, forcing the caretaker manager Mike Phelan to continue with his centre-back pairing of Davies and Livermore from the last game. The side also remains without the services of Odubajo (Knee), Luer (Knee), Bruce (Achilles) and Lenihan (Knee)

Expected Line-up

Jakupovic, Elmohamady, Davies, Livermore, Robertson, Clucas, Snodgrass, Huddlestone, Meyler, Diomande, Hernandez.

Arsenal

The London side remains without the services of Mertesacker (knee) and Welbeck (knee) who are recovering from their respective injuries. While Aaron Ramsey is expected to shrug off a hamstring problem, it is unlikely that Theo Walcott will feature in the game, as he recovers from a knee injury.

David Ospina was Arsenal’s saviour in their game against PSG. However, that might not stop Arsene Wenger from benching him in the favour of Petr Cech.

Expected Line-up

Cech, Bellerin, Mustafi, Koscielny, Monreal, Xhaka, Cazorla, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ozil, Sanchez, Perez

Key Men

Robert Snodgrass

The Scottish international has become a vital player at the KCOM Stadium since his move from Norwich and continues to impress with his industrious performances for the Tigers. Snodgrass followed up an incredible hat-trick for Scotland from their world cup qualifier against Malta with a late equaliser to give his club a point against Burnley and will be keen to add to his goals tally.

He has been his side’s creative lynchpin, having created 2 chances per game so far and will be looking forward to add to that statistic against a side whose defence was put under some serious stress by PSG. The player possesses the quality to unlock defences with his movement, passing as well as crossing and could prove to be a handful for the Arsenal defence in the game to come. His ability to link up well with other attackers been at the forefront in the 4 games he has featured in so far and the Tigers’ attack heavily rely on his experience and ability to eke out a positive result.

Mesut Ozil

The German endured a tough night against PSG and was arguably Arsenal’s worst player on the pitch. However, given his abilities on and off the ball, Hull City would be deemed unwise to not deal with his threat appropriately.

Ozil has created a goal scoring opportunity every 25 minutes and has shown an ability to unlock the toughest of defences even with time and space at a premium make him our player to watch out for during this match. The world cup winning star played a crucial part in his side’s close win over Southampton and will be keen to showcase his abilities against a side deemed to be of a lower quality than the Saints.

However, it remains to be seen how fast he can adapt to life with Lucas Perez, a striker touted to be in a different mould compared to Olivier Giroud. Should the duo link up well, they could develop into a force and the Gunners’ fans will be hoping that the game against Hull is just the beginning of the story to come.

Interesting Facts

  • Hull and Arsenal have faced each other on 24 occasions in the past, with Arsenal winning on 16 occasions compared to Hull’s 5 victories.
  • Hull City’s last victory against Arsenal came in September 2008, when they beat them 2-1 away from home.

Prediction

While Hull City have been impressive in the season so far, they simply do not match up to Arsenal in terms of quality and that, we believe will prove to be the difference between the two sides on Saturday. While the game will not be cakewalk, we expect Arsenal to win the game.

Aditya Upaadhyay
Aditya Upaadhyay
A masters in finance with a passion for football and an urge to work at the intersection of both.
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