Arsenal travel up north to face a Hull side who’ve started the season well after being tipped for relegation before it even began. Meanwhile, a failed tactical experiment in midweek against PSG meant Arsenal were lucky to come out with a point.
Arsenal’s patchy Champions league opening game in Paris saw the surprise exclusion of Giroud and Xhaka, with Alexis Sanchez deployed as striker instead. This, of course, failed, as the Chilean winger kept dropping too deep and too wide, meaning there was little focal point up front. It changed when Giroud came on, as he pinned the centrebacks down to allow space for Alexis to score.
Wenger should restore the volatile Frenchman for the game this weekend, allowing one of our star players to return to his rightful position on the wing. The inclusion of Granit Xhaka should also be a priority – his incisive balls from deep will be needed against a deep-lying Hull side.
This leads us nicely on to the tactical battle – Hull play a narrow 4-3-3 and have relied on counter attacks and set pieces this season – the bane of Arsenal’s existence. They will also sit very deep, meaning the game is likely to revolve around using Giroud as a ‘wall’ for midfield runners, and overlapping full backs. Defensively, Arsenal need to watch out for balls into the box, whether from set pieces or open play, but strong recent performances from Koscielny and Mustafi imply strong chances of a clean sheet at the back.
The pace of the returning Walcott and directness of Iwobi should really pin the Hull full backs down, while Giroud may find joy targeting makeshift centre-half Jake Livermore.
Of course, let’s just hope Snodgrass doesn’t do what Tadic did last match and ruin everything.
