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Welcome to Week 35 of the Premier League grind, and Arsenal travels to Hull to face the Tigers (rrrrroar) that they'll be facing in 27 days for the FA Cup Finals. This oddly-timed preview to the Cup Final, is, weirdly, the start of a relatively cushy final four-week schedule for the Gunners, given the gauntlet they've had to run in the last month.
They last met in December in London, winning 2-0 on a second-minute goal by Nicklas Bendtner (no, for real) and a 47th-minute goal by Mesut Özil via a sweet Aaron Ramsey assist. (Here's a GIF to take you back down memory lane.) According to infallible Twitter, Arsenal hasn't lost to Hull at Hull since April 1915, and according to something I saw on NBCSN yesterday, Arsenal's 9-0-1 in its last 10 matches to Hull. But, then again, it's a league where anything can happen, as yesterday's Chelsea-Sunderland match HA HA HA HA HA HA showed.
(Additional fun fact we'll break out in 3 1/2 weeks -- to get to the FA Cup final vs. Arsenal, Hull beat Middlesbrough, Southend, Brighton, Sunderland, and Sheffield United, which is considerably easier than what Arsenal did, and begs the question "Why is there not a seeding or at least a credible pot system in the FA Cup?")
On the awesome side of things, Ramsey and Özil are back in the Starting XI again. On the injury side of things, because that's something that always has to happen, the recently-brilliant Thomas Vermaelen picked up a slight hamstring tweak (of course he did), so Nacho Monreal and his recently dead leg start at left back.
Los Lineups:
#Arsenal team to play Hull City: Szczesny, Sagna, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal, Arteta, Ramsey, Cazorla, Ozil, Podolski, Giroud #HCFCvAFC
— Arsenal FC (@Arsenal) April 20, 2014
#Arsenal subs: Fabianski, Jenkinson, Flamini, Kallstrom, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Rosicky, Sanogo #HCFCvAFC
— Arsenal FC (@Arsenal) April 20, 2014
Hull City Starting XI: Harper, Rosenior, Elmohamady, Davies, Chester, Huddlestone, Livermore, Meyler, Boyd, Jelavic, Long #UTT
— Hull City Official (@hullcityteam) April 20, 2014
Hull City Subs: Jakupovic, Figueroa, Bruce, Koren, Fryatt, Sagbo, Quinn #UTT
— Hull City Official (@hullcityteam) April 20, 2014
Join us with the chatting, if you please; game's on NBCSN.