Opponent Watch: Hull City v Arsenal

Arsenal travel to KC Stadium to face Hull City for their upcoming Premier League fixture. The host side have enjoyed an incredible start to the Premier League campaign and will look to continue their impressive performances against the Gunners.

Matchday: Team News – Predicted Lineup – Match Preview

Match: Hull City v Arsenal
Stadium: KCOM Stadium
Kick Off (GMT): Sat Sep 17 1500

Hull is currently being managed by their interim manager Mike Phelan who won Augusts Manager of the Month award after impressing in the opening stages of the season. The manager collected a wealth of experience working under Sir Alex Ferguson as an assistant manager at Manchester United and while he has taken his time to become a full-fledged manager, he has proven he possesses the skills to do so.

Form Guide

D-L-W-W, 8^th in the league.

With a half decent squad, Phelan has managed to achieve wins against defending champions Leicester City and Swansea. Their only defeat of the season so far came against Manchester United when Rashford struck in injury time making the final score 1-0. Hull had managed to keep United’s attack at bay for the entire 90 minutes with a superb defensive display, and a similar if not better resistance is expected against the Gunners.

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Hull are currently on equal points with Arsenal who are currently 7^th in the league table. They have the same goal difference of +2.

Head-to-Head

Hull City defeated Arsenal in their first Premier League match together back in September 2008. Since then The Tigers have failed to record a win and have lost six of their last seven meetings with the Gunners.

Their only win against Arsenal was at home but the Gunners have won all of the last four away games.

Arsenal’s record against Hull is also boasted by Alexis Sanchez who has scored four goals and has two assists in the four previous games against the Tigers across all competitions.

Team News

Hull City has stuck with the same line-up in all of its Premier League games so far, but have played a formation of either 4-3-3 or 4-4-2.

Phelan is most likely to play 4-3-3 against Arsenal giving more weight to the strike-force in the form of striker Abel Hernandez.

However, Hull City might introduce Dieumerci Mbokani and debut him against Arsenal. The striker signed from Norwich on deadline day, with a record of seven goals in 15 starts for the Canaries. The manager might be reluctant to change the starting line-up that has worked in his favour so far but might bring Mbokani as a substitute if change in tactics is required.

Possible Line-up

Hull: Eldin Jakupovic; Ahmed Elmohamady, Jake Livermore, Curtis Davies (C), Andrew Robertson; Tom Huddlestone, Sam Clucas, David Meyler; Robert Snodgrass, Abel Hernandez, Adama Diomande.

Out: Luer (knee), Dawson (knee), Odubajo (knee), Bruce (Achilles), Lenihan (knee), McGregor (back)

Threat

Hull City’s strength is in its full-backs with Elmohamady and Andy Robertson on either side. With the former acting as great aerial threat and the latter with his keen eye for goal and making key crosses in to the box.

Arsenal will also be wise not to hand Hull too many free-kicks as forward Snodgrass has developed into a free-kick expert.

Weakness

While Hull City is strong on the flanks their weakness lies with their centre-backs. Therefore, the area to exploit and target for the Gunners would be to attack from the centre with Alexis Sanchez putting direct pressure and support for Olivier Giroud up front should the Frenchman be fit.

All in all, Hull could be a tricky fixture as they did manage to hold Manchester United off for the entire 90 minutes, a team which boasts one of the best attacks in the Premier League this season. The Gunners would have to put pressure early on to have any chances of breaking their defence.

[Opponent Watch] Hull City v Arsenal

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