19-12-09 Arsenal vs Hull City

17th December 2009

Arsenal will be looking to put behind them a stuttering performance against strong home performers Burnley, whilst traveling to the Emirates knowing any sort of result will be hard to come by.

Arsenal fans will have been shocked to see their team matched in midweek by new Premier League team Burnley, particularly given their superb comeback in the second half against Liverpool last weekend. It’s been a stop start season this year for Arsenal with several good results often followed by surprising results against less established teams, such as Sunderland whom they lost to a few weeks ago, and Burnley last weekend. Arsenal will see this home game against Hull City as a great opportunity to get back to winning ways and Manager Arsene Wenger will expect nothing short of a convincing win. The Gunners are still having to manage without the injured duo Robin Van Persie and Nicolas Bendtner and Cesc Fabregas has been added to the list of injured for this Saturday, suffering from a groin strain.

Hull City have had a stable couple of months by their standard with some reasonable results which means the Tigers find themselves in the relatively comfortable position of 16th in the Premier League level on points with Everton, just above them in the table. Hull have no major injury worries going into the game with Hull and will feel that they have an opportunity to push Arsene Wengers men all the way if they can cope with Arsenal’s technical expertise and win the physical battle with what is a diminutive Arsenal first eleven. Phil Brown will at least know not a lot ois expected of his squad which may give him the confidence to put out an attacking team capable of causing a shock result.

I expect this one to be a fairly close affair but I fully believe Arsenal need to, and will, bounce back from their performance against Burnley with a home win against Hull City

Verdict: Home win Arsenal(1)
Odds: 1/5
Bookmaker: William Hill