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MOTD: Arsenal 2-0 Hull City

By on January 4, 2015

The date January 4th has again served as a bellwether of Arsene Wenger’s success in the transfer market the previous summer. One year ago today it was Mesut Ozil making his FA Cup debut, which has largely symbolized his time at the club. Ozil failed to affect the result against Tottenham that day, a 2-0 win for Arsenal, after coming on as a late substitute. For a player who reportedly cost Arsenal £42.5 million, Ozil has since made a relatively small impact despite some promising initial performances for the club. As far as transfers go, Ozil has so far been a flop.

On the flip side, Alexis Sanchez made his FA Cup debut today, and his performance was very much the opposite of Ozil’s. Sanchez had a direct hand in both of Arsenal’s goals against Hull City, and was heavily involved in much of Arsenal’s goal threat. He came close to carrying Wenger’s men through to the FA Cup Fourth Round. This also has summed up his time at Arsenal, in which he has either scored or assisted more than half his club’s goals so far this season, nearly carrying them through the end of 2014. For even less than Ozil cost Arsenal, Sanchez has been a resounding success.

It is even hard to picture where Arsenal would be today without Sanchez. The 26-year-old has been a consistent, integral part of The Gunners’ attack, whether it be making runs, supplying the runs around him with excellent service, or launching attacks. Almost all of Arsenal’s big chances Sanchez had a direct hand in. He tested Hull goalkeeper Steve Harper more times than the rest of Arsenal’s squad did combined, and he was only runner-up to Santi Cazorla in key passes. This isn’t to say Arsenal didn’t collectively play well today. Cazorla was brilliant again, Theo Walcott had a promising return to the starting eleven, Joel Campbell had trouble finishing but proved his potential with multiple creative sparks, and Tomas Rosicky was solid as well. Hull gave David Ospina little to do in the Arsenal goal.

At the other end of the pitch, it took Arsenal just four minutes to test Harper. Campbell cut in from the left and took three defenders with him, before a one-two with Sanchez put him down the middle of the box. However, Campbell was slightly off-balance as he placed his low effort and Harper managed to get a foot to it. Arsenal were very much dominant, and soon after Sanchez found space on the right side of the Hull penalty area and scooped a brilliant effort over Harper, only for it to land just over the crossbar on the roof of the net. Thus is was hardly a surprise when Per Mertesacker headed Wenger’s men up just twenty minutes in, and at that, at the far post from an Alexis Sanchez corner.

Just two minutes later Sanchez had a golden opportunity to double Arsenal’s lead, having connected with Cazorla’s diagonal through-ball and rounded Harper, only for Paul McShane to match his pace and somehow poke the Chilean’s flicked effort away off the line. That marked the end of Arsenal’s bright start, though they still retained a firm handhold on the match. Hull’s best chance of the first half came when Harry Maguire sent a far post header just to the right of Ospina, causing minimal trouble for the Colombian.

On the other side of the half Sanchez tested Harper with a low twenty-yard effort, yet the pace of the match didn’t pick up again until the latter stages, when Arsenal’s lead looked shaky until Sanchez put the game to bed at seventy-three minutes. He received a pass from Cazorla, turned away from goal on the edge of the box, spun with it, and curled a beauty around Harper into the bottom right corner. It seemed nothing could stop Sanchez, at least not Hull today. For while January 4th FA Cup ties may prove a helpful measure of new signings, the FA Cup itself should ultimately not be the way by which Wenger will want his men to be judged, rather against bigger and better opposition in the EPL and Champions League.
Man of the Match: Alexis Sanchez

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.