5 things we learned from Arsenal's FA Cup victory over Hull
As Arsenal lay waste to a valiant but limited Hull side in their FA Cup fifth round replay, there were both clear positives and worrying negatives to take for Arsene Wenger. Two of his main goal-scorers finally easing themselves into form, Alex Iwobi putting in another eye-catching performance, and the drive and discipline of Elneny are sure to have given Wenger cause for content.But injuries to key squad members and a wider fan discontent with the current state of the club are factors that may yet heavily influence whether Arsenal end the season with a hit or a bust.
#1 The goals trickle in for Giroud and Theo
The lamentable run of form that Arsenal have gone through over the past two months have unsurprisingly coincided with a goal drought from their usual cavalry on call. Alexis Sanchez has been off his game ever since returning from a prolonged hamstring layoff, Theo Walcott has been desperately poor on the wings for an extended period of time, and Olivier Giroud has battled manfully and gotten assists but without the goal numbers expected from a senior striker.
After Sanchez sparked into life against Spurs at the weekend, Wenger will be happy to see two of his other erstwhile misfiring charges come good. Giroud’s first goal owed much to good fortune but his ability to ‘smell’ the stray back-pass from Meyler and make an anticipatory run should not be underestimated.
His second was also a neat finish that he made look deceptively simple: As Walcott’s cross from the left was deflected, Giroud adjusted his body well and fired home on the volley with his chocolate leg. Now a happy father to two kids, Giroud will hope to give renewed life to Arsenal’s title challenge as well.
Walcott’s case is a bit different, in that he had a pretty poor game for the major part of 70 minutes. Although he improved in the second half, most of what Theo tried failed to come off. Just like with Giroud, fortune needed to smile upon Theo’s struggling silhouette. It did so when his cross turned into the perfect on-plate delivery for Giroud after a minor deflection off a Hull head.
A few minutes later, an excellent cross-field pass from Campbell found Walcott one-on-one with the keeper; the Englishman is usually at his best when instincts take over, and his expert ball trap and finish paid testament to that fact. As the game wound down, another stroke of luck fell his way when a shot across goal deflected off a stray Hull appendage and beat the keeper for the fourth goal.