Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
Hull’s impressive start of the season continued last week as they picked up a point away at Burnley. Going into that game Hull would have identified it as one that was winnable but they nearly came away empty handed. Had it not been for Robert Snodgrass’ fantastic late free kick to deny Burnley a win.
Mike Phelan would have been happy to come away with a point especially in those circumstances and the tally after four matches now sits at 7. In fairness that is probably 6 more than most people thought they would win after this opening set of matches.
They now prepare for the visit of Arsenal who are fresh off of earning a Champions League draw in Paris. A draw they arguably didn’t really deserve but they took their chance when it matters, unlike Edinson Cavani who missed half a dozen guilt edged chances that night.
He only would have needed to put one more away and PSG would have been clear out of sight. Credit to Arsenal though they still showed self belief and were rewarded with an equaliser through Alexis Sanchez, they nearly snatched all three points late on through Alex Iwobi but that would have been incredibly harsh on the Parisiens.
Arsenal have seemingly been riding their luck as of late as they were fortunate enough to be awarded a injury time penalty at home to Southampton last Saturday. Oliver Giroud went down under a seemingly soft challenge from Jose Fonte and Santi Cazorla didn’t turn down the opportunity from the spot to give The Gunners all three points.
That win puts Arsenal in 7th after four matches, not quite where they would want to be but it’s still very early. The unbeaten run in all competitions has gone some way to quieting the discontent that was circling around The Emirates after their capitulation to Liverpool on the opening weekend of the season.
That result was the nudge that Arsene Wenger needed to enter the transfer market and in attack Lucas Perez hasn’t quite looked up to Arsenal standards in his first two appearances. The sooner he can open his Arsenal attack the better for his confidence.
After Alexis Sanchez’ equaliser on Tuesday you would imagine that Wenger will continue the experiment of the Chilean playing up front. That will not bode well for Oliver Giroud who was sent off against PSG, obviously he will be available for the trip to Hull but even after a post Euro 2016 rest he doesn’t seem to be currently in favour.
Regardless of the attacking personnel chosen for the trip to Humberside I think Arsenal will have enough to record their third consecutive Premier League win and work their way further up the table and nearer the promised land of the Top 4. An away win for me.
