Sports Blog 07/03/2016: FA Cup 5th Round Replay Preview – Hull vs Arsenal, Tuesday 8th March 2016

Winless in 5 games and with their role in the title race looking shaky Arsenal will be hoping for a much needed, course-righting victory over Hull when the 2 sides meet for their FA Cup 5th round replay at 7pm on BT Sport 1.

2016 is turning into a bit of a nightmare for the Gunners. Whilst the peculiarities of this Premier League season means, in 3rd place with 52 points (but with Man City’s game in hand looming over them), that Arsenal are far from out of the title race, their form since the New Year began has been a near-caricature of the accusations levelled at the side over the years. A paltry 3 league wins from a possible 10, with 3 losses and 4 draws, a 1st leg last 16 defeat at home to Barcelona in the Champions League and a stalled FA Cup campaign thanks to a replay-forcing 0-0 draw against Hull at the Emirates is hardly the stuff of champions, and has left Arsenal fans with a familiar sense of frustration, largely aimed towards an equally annoyed Arsene Wenger.



Things did look slightly better, in parts, in Saturday’s North London derby. Against the odds Arsenal took the lead thanks to Aaron Ramsey, only for a rash tackle and subsequent second yellow for Francis Coquelin allowing Tottenham to grab 2 goals in 2 minutes. Yet following that post-sending off wobble the Gunners showed a tenacity that fans will be wishing didn’t only appear when things look like a lost cause, Alexis Sanchez’s equaliser ensuring the points were shared (and gifting Leicester a 5 point lead at the top). There was also a strong performance from David Ospina following Petr Cech’s injury against Swansea last week, his 9 saves the most made by an Arsenal keeper since April 2009. 

Yet questions over Arsenal’s resilience remain, and if they can’t secure a safe passage to the FA Cup 6th round then they may find themselves with an insurmountable mental obstacle to overcome in the next few weeks. 

There is similar, if minor-key, crisis of faith happening at Hull. Since the start of February the Tigers have only won twice in the Championship, drawing 2 and losing 2; just as worryingly they have only managed to score 3 goals in those 6 games. Time and again they have missed the opportunity to top the league, their recent 1-0 defeat to Birmingham, combined with wins for Burnley and Middlesbrough, leaving them in 3rd place with 64 points, 3 behind Boro and 4 behind the Clarets (but with a game in hand over the latter). It means that once again the viability of a lengthy FA Cup run comes into question, leaving Steve Bruce to decide whether to risk putting out a full strength squad at the potential detriment to their automatic promotion-push.

With both managers under varying degrees of pressure it will be interesting to see how full throttle Tuesday evening’s game is, with Spreadex offering a middling Total Goals spread of 2.5-2.7. Our traders are less ambiguous with who they think will meet Watford in the 6th round, offering an Arsenal/Hull (h) Goal Supremacy spread of 0.6-0.8.

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