After Saturdays 3-0 win in Cardiff saw Arsenal continue their lead at the top of the Premier league with a 4-point gap, the Gunners welcome newly-promoted Hull City to the Emirates.
Having made a steady start upon their return to the top flight, Hull City showed their credentials with a brilliant 3-1 win over high-flying Liverpool on Sunday, and Arsenal can guarantee that Hull will put up a good battle at the emirates on Wednesday evening.
Team News
One of Arsenal’s revitalised players this season is fullback Bacary Sagna, however, the French international is set to the miss the game against Hull due to a tight hamstring. This means that the young Englishman Carl Jenkinson is set to make his first start in over a month for the Gunners as replacement.
As we get into the busy festive period, Wenger has expressed how he will need to rotate his squad to avoid players getting injuries like Sagna has:
“I rotate considering the level of fatigue,” the boss told reporters in his pre-match conference on Tuesday. “We have so many games that in some positions I will have to change; the full-back position is one that is very demanding.”
“When you play so many games of that intensity, we expect to lose one or two players. In every single game I will rotate. I try to limit the number because I do not want to disrupt the balance of the team, so I do that in every single game.”
With the more crucial game against Everton at the weekend in Wenger’s mind, you can expect to see a few changes in the line-up, with Walcott, Flamini and Rosicky all likely to start alongside Jenkinson against Hull.
However, the match comes too early for Podolski who is just over a week away from consideration, following his return to training.
Probable Line-up
Szczesny; Jenkinson, Koscielny, Mertesacker, Gibbs; Flamini, Ramsey, Rosicky; Ozil, Giroud, Walcott
Hull City
Steve Bruce’s men have made a solid start following their return to the Premier League this season, and currently sit in a healthy 10th place, thanks to an excellent win over Liverpool on Sunday. Though there may be trouble off the pitch between the fans and the owner, it has not yet affected the players, who seemed to be buoyed on by it at the weekend.
Hull’s good start to the season has been down to a great team spirit and work ethic which is something Steve Bruce’s teams have become known for, as he builds another team to try and avoid the drop into the Championship.
Following some great acquisitions in the summer, such as Tom Huddlestone and Jake Livermore from Spurs and goalkeeper Allan McGregor from Besiktas, Hull are capable of giving the Big Boys a real battle and look well-prepared for if they end up in a relegation battle.
Latest:
