Arsenal secured a comfortable 4-1 win over Hull City at the KCOM Stadium in a game full of drama including a red card, a penalty miss and a 35-yard screamer to cap things off. Arsene Wenger’s side secured their third consecutive win of the season to jump to third place in the league table, while Hull dropped to 10th.
Alexis Sanchez opened the scoring for the Gunners in the 17th minute when he got a touch on Alex Iwobi’s goal-bound shot. Jake Livermore was sent off for a handball inside the box in the 40th minute and Sanchez’s tame shot from the resulting spot kick was saved by Eldin Jakupovic.
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Theo Walcott doubled his side’s lead in the 55th minute, chipping the Hull City shot-stopper from close range, before Mike Phelan’s side pulled one back through Robert Snodgrass, who converted from the spot after Petr Cech fouled Dieumerci Mbokani. Sanchez then scored his second of the night in the 83rd minute before substitute Granit Xhaka scored his first goal for Arsenal – finding the back of the net from all of 35 yards in injury time.
Here are the major talking points from Arsenal’s 4-1 win over Hull City:
#1 Alexis Sanchez and the free role
Alexis Sanchez seems to be thriving in the free role provided to him by Arsene Wenger in recent games. The Chilean has managed to score 4 goals and notch up 2 assists in 6 appearances this season and while those stats seem impressive it does not tell the whole story.
Sanchez is disruptive to the build-up play of the Gunners due to his natural gravitation towards the ball. While he is excellent on the ball and is more than capable of a moment of magic, his inherent tendency to dribble disrupts the passing rhythm of the team as a whole.
Moreover, with Sanchez being granted the free-role, the North London outfit are more often than not found without a striker leading the line due to the Chilean’s propensity to drop deep in search for the ball. While it worked against Hull City, the same cannot be said in the big away games and Wenger should stick with the Chilean on the left wing and start Lucas Perez in the lone striker’s position.
#2 Alex Iwobi – Arsenal’s next star?
Alex Iwobi is slowly but surely cementing his place in the starting line-up. The Nigerian international has racked up three assists in the league this season and also played a huge part in Arsenal’s equaliser against PSG midweek. It was his goal-bound shot that was guided in by Sanchez for Arsenal’s opener and to be fair the goal should have been awarded to the 20-year-old.
Iwobi has been a bright spot in a relatively slow start to the season for the Gunners and it will be interesting to see if he can maintain his intensity and form as the season progresses. It will also be interesting to note if Wenger persists with Iwobi on the left when Perez does find his feet in the league and Sanchez is shifted to where he should be.
#3 Arsenal’s spot-kick conundrum
Arsenal won their fourth penalty of the season and have failed to convert half of those. First, it was Walcott who missed the spot-kick against Liverpool before Santi Cazorla dispatched two and today again Sanchez’s tame shot was saved easily.
In his post-match press conference, Wenger confirmed that Cazorla was meant to take the spot-kick and he was not sure why Alexis went for it, highlighting that there’s a pecking order and the Chilean was not meant to take it.
The former Barcelona winger probably wanted to double his tally having already opened the scoring for his side, but his poor track record with penalties reflect that he lacks the composure to bury it from 12-yards – Sanchez has missed both of his penalties that he has stepped up for Arsenal.
Cazorla should have insisted that he should be the one to take it, if not then Wenger should highlight the importance of following the pecking order to his players under all circumstances. The miss didn’t prove decisive against Hull City, but such complacency in the big games could prove very costly.
Also, it is time Arsenal find another equally adept spot-kick taker, considering Cazorla’s recent injury record and reportedly weak ankle. Maybe one of Perez or Xhaka?
#4 Jake Livermore’s red card
In the 40th minute of the game, Arsenal were awarded the penalty which Alexis subsequently missed, but it was the events leading to it that bore more impact on the result of the game. After some neat build up by Arsenal in Hull's box, the ball fell to Francis Coquelin (of all people), who launched a shot in search of his first goal in 112 appearances for the Gunners.
However, Livermore had other ideas and his protruding arms blocked a certain goal and the midfielder was subsequently showed a red card by the referee. A red card is shown to a player for deliberate handling of the ball inside the area coupled with the spot-kick, but if the handball is not intentional then the player may only be shown a yellow card along with the penalty being awarded to the opposition.
The sending-off has become a controversial topic but in defence of referee Roger East, he was correct with his decision as Livermore clearly blocked Coquelin’s shot.
#5 Granit Xhaka’s celebration
Granit Xhaka came on as a 67th minute substitute for Santi Cazorla, who was on a yellow and one foul away from being handed his marching orders. The summer signing had a decent stint in the middle before the ball found his way to him in injury time some 40-45 yards from goal.
The Swiss midfielder took a touch or two before lifting his head up and launching a thunderbolt of a strike into the top corner past a leaping Jakupovic. While the goal is already a contender for Goal of the Season, Xhaka followed it with a unique and perhaps symbolic celebrations.
He put one finger on his lips while lifting his hand up in the air, in what can be termed as a gesture to silence someone. Now, at first, it can be mistaken for a message to Arsene Wenger for having benched him in favour of Coquelin once again, or for his comments in the pre-match press conference, where the Frenchman suggested that he prefers the solidarity that a Coquelin-Cazorla pivot brings to his side.
However, it appears that in truth Xhaka’s gesture was in regards to the misreporting by a Swiss journalist. Before the Euros, in an interview, Xhaka had claimed that “he would be proud to play for the Albanian national team.
However, a Swiss journalist misquoted him as “He’s not proud to play for Switzerland”. This infuriated the Swiss, who was born to Albanian parents and whose own brother, Taulant Xhaka, plays for the Albania national team.
The controversy reached fever pitch when Xhaka missed a penalty for Switzerland at the Euros and the 23-year-old has been waiting ever since for his moment in the spotlight to send a message to his detractors.
