This morning The Management asked if I thought Arsenal would win today. Usually I can give her a decent enough response based on what my gut is telling me, but today I simply couldn’t, because quite frankly I have no idea.

Two words keep reverberating around in my head:

In theory.

In theory we should beat Hull. We have a better squad, better players, we’ve had a week off to recharge and doubts over Hector aside, we should have a pretty decent line up with which to beat a side still in the bottom three.

In theory.

Hull even have their own injury concerns. Their squad is a small one and has been since the beginning of the season. They’re missing up to nine first team players today I believe, with both Dawson and Davies missing from their centre back pairing. So in theory we should be looking at this as a home banker.

In theory.

But Marcos Silva has injected something in to his team and this is a Hull side that looks like it’s gathering momentum. They will have the award-winning diver of the century in Elmohammedy (just google ‘Arsenal vs Hull elmohammedy dive’ and you’ll see it if you don’t remember) back for them today from the AFCON, but it will be a test of their defensive resolve and how well they adapt to the counter attack today that I’m worried about.

Let’s face it, our midfield has hardly shown a Gandalfian strength in stopping any players from passing in the last two games, has it? So if we see Coquelin and the Ox today in the centre I’m expecting similar nerves as we saw at home to Watford. 

But it’s our attack that need to do the business, for which I am hoping that we see plenty of pace and trickery about us, this lunchtime. I want to see Lucas Perez with Alexis and given his impact from the bench in the last couple of games, why not see if Welbeck is fit to start? I’d be surprised if Arsène is saving him for Bayern away next week, so giving him a run out today could be just what the doctor ordered. I think it would also lift many of us too. An injection of fresh blood for the weary fans to feel like something is different about today. We’re all a little fed up with performances of late, so why not get us excited by changing it? 

Whether he does or not remains to be seen. Arsène loves giving players as much opportunity as possible and so it wouldn’t surprise me at all to see Giroud and Walcott starting. Theo had another anonymous performance after his goalscoring exploits in the cup, so personally I’d be dropping him to show that going missing in big games isn’t tolerated, but as I said above, Arsène loves second, third and fourth chances for his players.

We’ve started most games in 2017 in very pedestrian fashion, so what I’d really like to see is a fast start. That doesn’t mean we have to score in the first ten minutes, but it does mean we have to show signs, because that will get the crowd behind the players. If we see the same labored passing side to side that we’ve seen of late, that’s what will see the malaise amongst the fans set in. None of us want that, so whilst Arsène is right to talk about unity, the fans need to see something from the players that shows they have some fight about them.

Hull will look to hit us on the counter and will look to do so driving down their right hand side, so Nacho will be the busier of the two full backs I think. It means he’ll need the appropriate level of support because when Hull break they’ll want to do it quickly. What we don’t need is Coquelin forgetting that he’s supposed to be the ball winning centre midfielder. 

The other option would be Elneny, who I think could be a good foil for the Ox. The Egyptian covers ground and his ball retention and distribution is better than Coquelin. I find him a more intelligent player than Coquelin and if Hull do target our left hand side, I’d fancy Elneny to cover space better than Coquelin. 

So that’s it really. I still haven’t answered the question about whether I think Arsenal will win today. Quite simply, I still have no idea, with those two words still circling my brain:

In theory.

Catch you all tomorrow.