Top tiger: Why Hull will suffer without their star man against Arsenal

If Steve Bruce could have chosen one player to be guaranteed to start against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium, it would surely have been Curtis Davies.

In the absence of Robert Koren, Davies has inherited the captain’s armband and with it a great deal of responsibility.

That might have been a cause for concern for Hull fans. Last time Davies was in the Premier League with Aston Villa, he endured some dreadful form, once describing his own performance as akin to that of a “pub player”.

However, Davies is older and wiser now. This time, he has not buckled under the bright lights. In fact, he currently has a higher Squawka Performance Score than any member of the Hull City squad:

Speaking to the Guardian earlier this season, Bruce insisted Davies was merely living up to his manager’s expectations: “He hasn’t surprised me. For me to pay £2.25m is a lot of money. I’ve still got big connections at Birmingham and he’s been their player of the year for the last two seasons, which is not easy to do for a centre-back.”

Given Davies’ excellent start to life at Hull, Bruce will be cursing his luck that he picked up his fifth yellow card of the season against Liverpool, ruling him out of the clash with the table-topping Gunners.

The booking was the only blemish on an outstanding performance. Davies was at his very best to keep Luis Suarez & co at bay.

The centre-half won 100% of his aerial duels and made seven out of seven successful clearances – four of which were made from inside his own penalty area.

He also made five interceptions, demonstrating an improving ability to read the pattern of the game.

The Liverpool performance was no fluke. Davies has been consistent throughout the season. He is not just Hull’s best defender – he is now recognised as one of the Premier League’s best, fueling talk of an England call-up.

He fares very well in the Squawka rankings for defensive actions with only Jonas Olsson and Phil Jagielka making a bigger contribution to their respective sides.

Davies’ replacement at Arsenal is likely to be James Chester. Chester’s statistics do not compare well to Davies’. Whilst Davies has won an average of 60% of his one-on-one duels, Chester has won just 34%.

Against the assorted attacking talents of Mesut Ozil, Olivier Giroud and Aaron Ramsey, Chester is in for a tough test.

Sadly for Hull, all Curtis Davies can do is watch on.