Arsenal travel north to the KC Stadium to face a Hull City side caught up in a fierce relegation battle. The Gunners will be hoping to cement their top 3 position by taking advantage of Manchester United’s surprise loss against West Brom and will also have second-placed Manchester City in their sights, with two games in hand over the Blues.
Arsenal can still win some silverware this season but the Premier League title is now out of reach with Chelsea being crowned champions, despite recent glimmers of hope and many will point to poor results before Christmas, including the reverse of this fixture, as the main factor behind a faltering title bid. A last minute Danny Welbeck goal salvaged a draw that day yet a repeat of that stuttering performance would appear unlikely. Arsene Wenger’s men have been in a rich vein of form since the new year with last weekend’s draw against Chelsea only the third time the Gunners have dropped points in 2015.
However, as Liverpool discovered midweek, there can no room from complacency against the Tigers, with a Michael Dawson header securing a vital win over the team from Merseyside. That triumph, added to a hard-fought win at Crystal Palace last weekend has provided a huge boost of confidence to Steve Bruce’s side, proving many of their doubters wrong. Less than a fortnight ago a run of just two points from 18 had many fearing for the worst but Hull’s recovery is evidence once again of how much of a difference back-to-back wins can make in the battle to survive in the top flight.
In terms of injury news, as we reported earlier in the week, the squad is relatively close to a clean bill of health, with only Mathieu Debuchy a slight doubt (hamsting) in addition to long-term recoveries of Mikel Arteta, Abou Diaby and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
A result of such news is a bigger squad for Arsene to choose from, with the boss pointing out that’s he’s never expereinced so much competition for places in the final six games of the season (via Arsenal.com):
“[Competition for places] is much more difficult. David Ospina, Hector Bellerin and Francis Coquelin have all come in, and it is very hard to pick the team at the moment as they are all top quality.”
Top quality indeed. It’s interesting that the form of the aforementioned players could keep the likes of Jack Wilshere out of the team as he seeks to gain his place back in the side following injury. The England man has obviously suffered from a multtitude of knocks over the years, so much so that many have begun to question his potential. It remain’s to be seen whether Jack will step-up his comeback at the KC but Wenger did offer some interesting thoughts on Jack’s future:
“The players are always ready when they come back from injury but it takes much longer than they think to get sharp again. In the Premier League it is a fraction of a second that makes you efficient or not.”
“[Wilshere] needs competition. At the moment, every week he is stronger, he is getting back to the level now. This week was the first week he is sharp again.
“His strength is in the final third, offensively. That is where he really expresses his talent. It is difficult to get in this team, I don’t deny that. If you consider any individual case you can say you are sorry that he doesn’t play.”
The manager will, of course, be seeking all three points on Monday night so he may feel a Jack Wilshere who is not necessarily match fit would be much better use coming off the bench and Wenger is more than aware of the ‘big challenge’ his side will face against Steve Bruce’s side:
“They had two great performances when they were in quite a bad situation, but they had two amazing results. They’ve just beaten Liverpool at home, so we are warned that we will face a big challenge there.”
Gunner’s fans across the globe will no doubt agree with Wenger’s assessment, especially after last years scare in the FA Cup final, but this is a game that Arsenal should win.
The match at The KC kicks off at 8pm GMT on Monday and as always we’d like you to share your predictions and thoughts on the game on twitter or in the comments below.
