It’s fair to say that Arsenal know all about their FA Cup fifth round opponents, Hull City, given the recent history between the two sides.
Despite Hull’s relegation to the Championship at the end of last season, a number of clashes against the Tigers remain fresh in the memory for Arsenal fans – and most of those memories are happy ones for the Gunners.
This season’s cup tie against Hull will be Arsenal’s fourth in the last seven years, and the previous three saw the Gunners victorious on each occasion. Most recently, Per Mertesacker and Alexis Sanchez scored the decisive goals in a third round clash at the Emirates just over a year ago – a repeat of the previous season’s FA Cup final.
That final, of course, threatened to be a disaster for Arsenal when Hull raced to a 2-0 lead inside the opening eight minutes with goals from James Chester and Curtis Davies. But Arsenal clawed their way back and goals from Santi Cazorla, Laurent Koscielny, along with an injury-time winner from Aaron Ramsey, ensured the cup stayed in north London.
The last time Hull beat Arsenal in any competition was back in September 2008, when a stunning goal from Brazilian forward Geovanni helped the Tigers to a 2-1 Premier League victory at the Emirates. That result sent shockwaves throughout the league at the time, but much has changed since then.
Hull are as of 8th February priced at 125/1 to win the trophy in the latest FA Cup betting, while Arsenal are at 7/1. The difference in these odds is a fair reflection of the gulf between the two sides at the moment. Arsenal, after all, are a couple of wins shy of topping the Premier League, while Hull are an entire division below in the Championship.
That said, Hull are riding high at the moment and, at the time of writing, are on winning streak that stretches all the way back to New Year’s Day. Tigers manager Steve Bruce has kept hold of key players since dropping out of the Premier League and the likes of Uruguayan forward Abel Hernandez and former Spurs midfielder Jake Livermore are capable of hurting the Gunners if Arsene Wenger’s side take victory for granted on February 20th.
Bruce’s options have been bolstered in recent weeks by the return of influential midfielder Robert Snodgrass, who has recovered from a knee injury that threatened to bring an early end to his career. The Scotland international, who scored a penalty at the Emirates for Leeds United in a 1-1 draw in the cup five years ago, has netted twice in his last five outings, including a winning goal in the third round of the FA Cup against Brighton.
Bruce’s ability to mastermind a watertight defence is proving to be one of his strongest assets as a manager. The former Manchester United defender has applied the lessons he learned playing alongside Denis Irwin, Gary Pallister and Peter Schmeichel to a Hull side that has scored 14 goals in its last six games and conceded only three.
Perhaps the most potent threat to Arsenal’s FA Cup hopes is the thirst for revenge that Bruce will doubtless be harbouring after the Wembley defeat in 2014. That said, if Arsenal are on any kind of form, the outcome of this tie is likely to be very much the same for Bruce’s men.