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The league matches went missing this week as the Premier League teams started their FA Cup campaign with the third round fixtures.With Tottenham and Liverpool set to play today, most of the top sides in the Premier League got off to winning starts with Manchester City surviving a scare against Sheffield Wednesday, while Manchester United and Chelsea won their ties with relative ease against lower division opponents Yeovil Town and Watford respectively.In the last match of the day, Arsenal faced Hull City at the Emirates in what was a replay of last season’s final. Although Hull did threaten a few times, the Gunners started their title defence by winning the match rather comfortably by a scoreline of 2-0, thanks to strikes from skipper Per Mertesacker and Alexis Sanchez.We take a look at 5 major talking points from the game:
#1 Arsenal have to finish off their chances
Like always, Arsenal were dominant in possession, with about 56% of the ball, and started the game with tempo and created numerous chances early on. Yet frustratingly, they had to wait until Sanchez’s 82nd minute strike to ensure victory despite having numerous opportunities to finish off the game earlier.
Joel Campbell, Sanchez and Theo Walcott all had their chances in the first half, but no one could utilize them. Even though they should be given credit for creating a lot of chances, Campbell’s one-on-one chance especially had to be converted.
Arsenal have been hurt quite a few times even this season for not finishing off their chances and against Hull it seemed like they still haven’t been to resolve the issue. With the FA Cup title defence and league aspirations still very much alive, Arsene Wenger must find a way to get his strikers to finish off the good chances they create.
#2 Rosicky\'s still delivering consistently
Tomas Rosicky might be 34 years of age and getting only limited opportunities at Arsenal, but he once again proved that he still has the quality to play more often. Deployed in midfield alongside Francis Coquelin and Santi Cazorla, the Czech midfielder made full use of the quality and pace around him and had a wonderful evening at the Emirates.
Rosicky was calm in possession, good with his distribution and looked dangerous with his movement. He completed 4 dribbles and almost bagged a fabulous assist when he dribbled past three Hull players and slid a beautiful pass through to Sanchez, but the Chilean was denied by a goal line clearance from Paul McShane.
Having scored a goal in his first League start this season against QPR, Rosicky has helped Wenger cope with the absence of Aaron Ramsey and Jack Wilshere, and can be expected to feature again in the upcoming fixutres. Yesterday’s performance was a testimony to why he is still a fan favourite and he would be hoping he gets more opportunities to prove his worth.
#3 Hull have the ammunition but need to fire
There is no denying the quality in Steve Bruce’s Hull City side. Robbie Brady, Ahmed Elmohamady, Nikica Jelavic, Gaston Ramirez, Tom Huddlestone, Jake Livermore and Curtis Davies are all extremely talented players and with youngsters like Andrew Robertson, Harry Maguire and Tom Ince all making their mark, Hull have a squad strong on paper in comparison to several other sides in the Premier League.
Still for some reason, Hull have struggled so far this season. Having gone 10 games without a win after a 2-0 win against Crystal Palace in early October, Hull only returned to winning ways on Boxing Day with a victory over Sunderland. Hull then went onto lose against the bottom placed Leicester City at home but then beat Everton comprehensively.
In spite of showing promise often, inconsistency is hurting Hull really bad. With no money to spend in the winter transfer window, Bruce needs his current lot of players to step up. Having been knocked out of both Cup competitions now, Hull can concentrate on the League and try to ensure they stay up and not get relegated at the end of the season.
#4 Wenger needs to rotate his squad more
Joel Campbell started only his third match of the season against Hull, the earlier two starts coming against Southampton in the Capital One Cup tie and then in the 4-1 victory against Galatasaray in the final Champions League group match. It is rather surprising that in spite of all the injuries they have suffered, Wenger has been reluctant to hand playing time to players like Rosicky, Campbell and Podolski, with the three having been afforded only 194, 41 and 106 minutes of playing time respectively in the Premier League.
Against Hull, Bellerin, Rosicky, Campbell and Coquelin all grabbed their opportunities with both hands and put in impressive performances. All of them are really talented players and there is no point in keeping them on the bench as they need to be given playing time to improve. It is clear that Podolski’s loan move to Inter Milan was purely out of frustration at the lack of playing time.
Wenger’s use of Sanchez is also worrying Arsenal fans as he has started all but two matches in all competitions since arriving at the Emirates. He is the only major player who hasn’t been injured this season and Arsenal cannot afford an injury to their star man at this crucial stage of the season. Therefore, even though Wenger has stated his concerns about rotating his players, he definitely needs to make more use of the talent he has got on the bench.
#5 There is no stopping Alexis Sanchez
The signing of Alexis Sanchez from Barcelona in the summer was one of Arsene Wenger’s biggest achievements in 2014, as the Chilean has been instrumental for the Gunners this season. Sanchez has been in sparkling form this season and continued that with yet another good performance yesterday against Hull.
Sanchez completed four dribbles and had four key passes and four shot on targets to show as he kept testing the Hull backline at every given opportunity. Sanchez was part of almost every decent move Arsenal made up-front and he came close to scoring on several occasions before netting the winner in the 82nd minute, which was his 16th goal of the season in all competitions.
Bubbling with confidence, Sanchez looks unstoppable at the moment and Arsenal need him to continue his good form in order to keep their title aspirations alive. With Sanchez at the top of his game, players like Ozil, Walcott and Ramsey all on their way back from injuries and hopefully a good couple of signings at the back and midfield in the January transfer window, Arsenal can be expected to be back challenging for a top four spot in the League and also in domestic and European Cup competitions as well.
