Arsenal 2-0 Hull City

Premier League form (Last 5 games)

Arsenal: (DWWLL)

Hull City: (LWLDW)

The situation at Arsenal can be described as nothing less than chaotic. They've been typical Arsenal this season: start the season off strongly and then fall away at the turn of the new year. Two losses in their last two games have reignited the 'Wenger out' contingent who have become fed up with Arsenal's mediocrity each year. To make matters worse for The Gunners their star man and seemingly irreplaceable forward, Alexis Sanchez, is threatening to let his contact run out and so there is a major possibility he could be leaving the London club in the summer. This means they come into the game with big problems and could be vulnerable in today's game.

In contrast to proceedings at Arsenal there seems to be a feel good factor back at Hull City. After a great start to life back in the Premier League, where they picked up 7 points from their first 3 games, Hull plummeted down the table and found themselves in great danger of relegation. Although that danger of relegation has not disappeared, the appointment of Marco Silva in place of Mike Phelan has transformed Hull's fortunes. Good results in recent weeks have taken Hull off the foot of the table and they are now only 1 point from leaving the relegation zone.

The contrast in fortunes of both teams in recent weeks could make for an interesting contest at the Emirates stadium. A month or so ago and it would have been almost certain that Arsenal would dismantle Hull. However, Hull have recently secured a creditable draw at Manchester United and have also beaten Liverpool at home, so they will be travelling to Arsenal with no shortage of confidence.

The teams lined up as follows:

Arsenal:

Cech, Bellerin, Mustafi,  Koscielny, Gibbs, Coquelin, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ozil, Walcott, Iwobi, Sanchez

Subs: Ospina, Monreal, Gabriel, Elneny, Lucas, Welbeck, Giroud

Hull City:

Jakupovic, Elabdellaoui, Ranocchia, Maguire, Robertson, Huddlestone, N'Diaye, Markovic, Grosicki, Clucas, Niasse

Subs: Meyler, Maloney, Diomande, Marshall, Elmohamady, Tymon, Evandro

The game kicked off very cagey with both sides unable to assert their dominance. The Hull players in particular looked very shaky in possession of the ball, with Huddlestone and Clucas being very careless with the ball and consequently were putting their team in danger.

Their carelessness almost had them a goal down early on, but Ranocchia saved Hull from going 1-0 down early on as he did extremely well to put Sanchez off when it looked like he was one on one with the goalkeeper.

Despite this shaky start it was Hull who created the first clear cut opportunity. Markovic did brilliantly as he waltzed down the wing, and his dangerous low cross was inches away from being tapped in by Niasse.

It was that man Niasse who nearly broke the deadlock again just a few minutes later. Grosicki, who along with Markovic was causing the Arsenal back line problems, swung the ball in audaciously with the outside of his foot. The ball dropped exquisitely too Niasse who came steaming in and had a free header, but his effort was tipped over by Cech.

The game has suddenly sprung into life, and this time it was Arsenal who should've had the ball in the back of the net after spurning two good opportunities.

After breaking from a Hull corner, Bellerin played a one-two with Oxlade-Chamberlain and found space in the box, but his shot was sliced wide.

Just a minute later Sanchez found space in the box and had the goal at his mercy, but his left footed strike from 10 yards was skewed wide. From a prolific striker like Sanchez you would expect him to have at least hit the target.

Although he had spurned this chance, Sanchez was at the heart of all good things for Arsenal and his constant hassling of the Hull back line was causing them a number of problems.

Along with Bellerin and Sanchez, Ozil also found himself culpable of wasting a good chance. Sanchez did well on the left wing and put in an inviting ball into the box to Ozil, but the latter was unable to keep his effort down as it was volleyed way over the bar.

In truth it was Arsenal who were now creating most of the chances in the game and it seemed only a matter of time until they broke the deadlock. They finally did this on the 34th minute mark, but the goal may well be marred with controversy.

Gibbs found space in the box, but his shot was cleared off the line by Robertson. However his clearance fell straight to Sanchez, who after a deflection managed to bundle the ball into the goal. However the replays showed that the ball was deflected in via the hand of the Chilean striker. After deliberation with his official, Mark Clattenburg ignored the Hull protests and duly awarded the goal. (1-0)

After watching the goal back, it seemed as if the ball did strike Sanchez's hand, but in truth he could do nothing to prevent it from doing so. Although the decision could have gone either way, the judgement by Clattenburg was an extremely tough one and you could forgive him for giving the goal.

The remaining 10 minutes in the half was fairly quiet, with no chances being created by either side. 

And so the half time whistle went with Arsenal a goal up against Hull. Despite the controversial circumstances involving Sanchez's goal, Arsenal were probably worth their goal lead and would be satisfied with their efforts in the first half.

However, Hull had created chances themselves in the first half, with Grosicki and Markovic in particular both looking dangerous down the Hull wings. They may well have gone into the break a goal down, but they had created enough chances in the first half to suggest they were far from being out of this game.

The second half started with Hull taking the game to Arsenal and they could've restored parity just after the break. Markovic did well down the right wing and after racing past Koscielny his cross found Niasse in the box. After composing himself, the Senegalese striker rifled in a powerful shot that forced Cech into a smart save.

There was another controversial moment 5 minutes later, and again it was Arsenal who could consider themselves lucky to be the beneficiaries. 

After Niasse had flicked the ball on, Markovic found himself with time and space to run at the Arsenal goal. Gibbs, who was quite clearly the last man, charged across and clumsily took the Serbian out. To me it seemed he had denied Markovic a clear cut opportunity, and the only option for Clattenburg would've been to issue a red card. However, Gibbs was only given a booking, much to the dismay of the Hull players.

Regardless, Hull had started the second half much better than Arsenal and were well in the game.

In contrast, Arsenal were finding it extremely difficult to create anything and were finding it difficult to test Jakupovic in the Hull goal. Arsenal's danger man Alexis Sanchez was struggling to get on the ball and the Hull back line was doing very well to nullify his threat.

With 15 minutes to go Arsenal were getting more and more nervy. It was Hull creating all the chances, with Markovic and then Niasse coming close to getting Hull back level. Diomande was also able to find space in the box following an Evandro corner, but his header was well over the bar.

It seemed that missed chance by Diomande would be Hull's last real chance on the Arsenal's goal, and as the time whittled down they began to throw more and more men forward in search of an equaliser. But this would all be in vain as the game was virtually killed off just as the clock struck 90 minutes. 

Arsenal broke from a Hull corner and Jakupovic made a rash decision to come well out of his box and close down the on rushing Sanchez. The Chilean maestro coolly rounded him before sending the ball into the box to an unmarked Lucas, who had the goal at his mercy. His header at goal was blocked on the line illegally by Clucas, and as a result he received his maroching orders and a penalty was given.

It was Sanchez who stepped up and Arsenal's go-to-man would not disappoint as he rolled the ball under Jakupovic and into the net. (2-0)

There was not enough time for Hull to respond so the game finished 2-0 to Arsenal.

It was not a vintage performance by Arsenal, and they would be extremely relieved that they were able close out the game and see off a spirited performance by Hull. After going through great trouble in recent weeks, Arsenal were back to winning ways and this result would ease a little pressure on under fire manager Arsene Wenger.

Hull on the other hand would be slightly disappointed they did not come away from North London with a share of the spoils, but would undoubtedly be proud that they were able to push Arsenal all the way. Hull are most certainly on the up and with Marco Silva at the helm they looked a completely different team than they did under Mike Phelan. Despite losing they could still take confidence from this result as they go into a season defining trio of games against Burnley, Leicester and Swansea.

Player ratings:

Arsenal: Cech(7) Gibbs(6) Mustafi(6) Koscielny(6) Coquelin(6) Oxlade-Chamberlain(7) Iwobi(6) Ozil(5) Walcott(5) Sanchez(8)

Subs: Elneny(6) Welbeck(5) Lucas(6)

Hull: Jakupovic(5) Elabdellaoui(6) Ranocchia(7) Maguire(6) Robertson(7) Huddlestone(6) N'Diaye(6) Markovic(8) Grosicki(7) Clucas(5) Niasse(7)

Subs: Evandro(6) Elmohamady(6) Diomande(6)

Man of the Match: Alexis Sanchez
Honourable mention: Lazar Markovic

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