Arsenal vs Hull City Preview, Predicted line up and score line by KJ
This is arguably the biggest tie of the 3rd round mainly because it’s a replay of that tantalising final between the two teams last year. Both teams have changed squad wise and their fortune has taken a turn for the worst in the league so this makes it a very interesting tie.
The teams that will be put out (especially Arsenal) will be a lot weaker considering this is only a 3rd round tie. We need to rest a lot of players as they are running off fumes at the moment. The likes of Alexis and Mertesacker will most likely be rested.
Even if we have a weaker team, you expect us to do the job as we still have too much attacking quality for these weaker teams. There are still massive questions over our defending so you can expect Steve Bruce to exploit us on the counter.
Predicted Line up:
Ospina
Debuchy – Chambers – Monreal – Gibbs
Coquelin – Chamberlain
Campbell – Rosicky – Akpom
Walcott
We have so many injuries at the moment that even our reserve line up used for the FA cup ties is looking pretty bare. With Podolski on his way out and Sanogo looking for a loan, the attack looks particularly low on quality but we’ll have to make it work.
Ospina was in the training pictures and Wenger has already told us he will start after Szczesny’s shocking performance against Southampton
The defence isn’t too bad. It does lack an actual proper centre back but that hasn’t stopped Wenger before and it won’t stop him now.
The midfield is shocking but we can’t do much about it. Coquelin and Chamberlain lack any real control so we could lose the midfield battle against Hull. That is absolutely horrifying to say but it is a possibility.
Campbell, Theo and Akpom could all get starts against Hull. Campbell has a lot to prove whilst Theo will want to stake his claim to a starting place with a good performance. Akpom will be happy enough to be getting first team appearances at this point and will be tying to impress Wenger. I hope he gets a couple of goals!
This will be a difficult game considering the team we’ll most likely play but I think we’ll nick it 2 – 1 in the end.