Arsenal address slide at perfect time

Gunners high on confidence ahead of FA Cup replay against Hull City

KINGSTON UPON HULL: Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey says the Gunners will resume their FA Cup defence at Hull City on Tuesday with confidence restored following Saturday’s 2-2 draw with North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur.

Arsene Wenger’s side had come in for heavy criticism after back-to-back defeats had seen them fall away in the Premier League title race, prompting Alexis Sanchez to claim that some of his teammates lacked the hunger to be champions.





But the way the Gunners recovered after falling behind to claim a point at Spurs, despite being reduced to 10 men following the dismissal of Francis Coquelin, offered signs that they have the resolve to end the season on a high.

And the prospect of becoming the first team to win the FA Cup for a third successive season since the 19th century will provide an additional incentive to overcome Championship promotion hopefuls Hull in the fifth-round replay.



“I think we needed a performance like that after the couple of defeats that we’ve had. We needed to come here and get something and we managed to do that with 10 men,” said Ramsey.

Arsenal centre-back Per Mertesacker echoed Ramsey’s views, albeit in a more sarcastic fashion. “We have to take care of ourselves,” said the German. “For a team with low confidence and no belief, we played pretty well. We just concentrate on ourselves and that’s the only way to compete and win games.”



The optimism generated by the performance against Tottenham will help Arsenal’s cause, but they remain without a win in their last five games in all competitions — a run that began with the scoreless draw with Hull in the first meeting between the two teams. 

Published in The Express Tribune, March 8^th, 2016.

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