Arsenal vs Hull Preview, Team News, Likely Line-Ups, Key Man & Predicted Score

Arsenal entertain Hull City to the Emirates Stadium tonight hoping to extend their lead at the top of the Premier League.

The Gunners head into the midweek fixtures with a four point advantage over second-placed Chelsea but with the Blues facing an away trip to Sunderland, Arsenal will hope to capatalise on any slip up by Jose Mourinho’s side to widen the gap at the top of the table.

We maintained our excellent early-season form with an impressive 3-0 win away at Cardiff last Saturday with Aaron Ramsey once again getting himself on the score-sheet with a well-taken brace.

Since losing to Aston Villa on the opening day of the season, we have won five home games on the spin and have conceded just once in our last six games in all competitions, so we should go into tonight’s clash in confident mood.

However, the Tigers showed they are not an easy target for the bigger teams with an impressive 3-1 win over title-chasing Liverpool on Sunday, with the result lifting Steve Bruce’s men up to 10th in the table, so the Arsenal players will need to remained focussed and not take anything for granted.

Team News

Arsene Wenger confirmed yesterday that Bacary Sagna will miss the game after picking up a hamstring injury against Cardiff, so Carl Jenkinson will start at right back.

The boss also hinted he may make further changes as he looks to keep his players fresh heading into the bust festive period so the likes of Nacho Monreal, Thomas Vermaelen and Tomas Rosicky could all come in.

Theo Walcott is expected to make his first start in over two months with Mesut Ozil, Mikel Arteta and Jack Wilshere tipped to be given a breather. Lukas Podolski is back in training but won’t be considered for action for at least another week.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Yaya Sanogo and Abou Diaby all remain sidelined.

Hull City will have to make-do without the services of Curtis Davies after the defender picked up his fifth booking of the season against Liverpool. This will open the door for James Chester to make his first appearance in three months after he recovered from a hamstring tear.

Striker Matty Fryatt is also also pushing for a recall but may have to make-do with a place among the subs as Bruce sticks with the side that performed so well at the weekend.

Likely Line-Ups

Key Man

Theo Walcott: Walcott should be fresh as he’s played very little football this season and the attacker’s pace will cause the visitors all sorts of problems tonight. Hull will have to pay close attention to him and I can see Theo being a key man in this game.

Predicted Score

Arsenal 3-0 Hull: Arsenal’s home form is vastly improved from last year and with Hull losing five or their last six away games, I don’t see them having too much hope of getting a result against the league leaders.

What would be your starting eleven and what’s your predicted score? Share your comments below.