Before the kick-off to the clash at the KC stadium murmurings of a conspiracy theory filled the air with Hull’s assurance of European football if Arsenal made the Top Four due to their position in the FA cup final, but in the end a well-rounded Gunners display saw them blow away the Tigers without the need of aid, and open up a four point gap above Everton.
If this was to be a FA cup final rehearsal then Wenger could not have been happier with his team who put in an excellent performance.
Hull is a very decent side. Bruce has steered them to an all but certain place in next seasons campaign and they have conceded just 16 goals in 17 home games. This, combined with the high number of minutes played by Arsenal in the last fortnight, and our poor defensive record away from home lately (15 goals in the last 5 away games), as well as Hull’s occasional ability to stun the big teams—a 3-1 win against league leaders Liverpool springing to mind, made this anything but a routine clash.
Indeed early Hull pressure in a fiery encounter was initially potentially dangerous, yet Arsenal were superb in sucking this up and responding with Ramsey’s well taken strike in the 31st minute. From then on Arsenal came to life and recorded a comfortable victory in which there could have been more Gunner goals.
This match really left me, and I’m sure many other Gooners thinking: ‘what if’? What if Ozil hadn’t been out for 25% of the season? What if Aaron Ramsey hadn’t been out for 47% of our campaign? What if Theo hadn’t been out for 75% of it?
Ramsey came in today, scored a goal and got a fine assist as well as putting Poldoski’s second on a plate. This man is set to miss half the season but still be in firm contention for the ‘young PFA player of the year’ and be the strong favourite for ‘Arsenal player of the season.’
What Ramsey and Ozil brought to this side is pace, they did things faster, got the ball out their feet, looked up, made that pass. It was a refreshing break from the static football and sideways passes that have become the norm at the Emirates in recent weeks.
If Ozil, Walcott and Ramsey had been in the team for that horrid patch of fixtures (Liverpool/Spurs/Chelsea/Bayern x2/ Man City/ Everton), results and performances would have been different and we may well have been a side still in contention.
A positive atmosphere on Twitter post-match led to many people stating that they had forgotten how good we were. We actually have a very fine squad, and with strengthening in the summer we’ll be back as a proper side once more.
It was a relief to see a much more forward thinking side aided by the impact of Ozil and Ramsey. 245 completed forward passes compared to 160 successful backward ones (FourFourTwo Stats Zone) indicate a much more promising ratio and show a side keen to show attacking urgency.
So, that’s 10 wins in the last 11 against Hull, let’s make it 11 in 12 at Wembley. Up the Arsenal!
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