- Arsenal v Hull: looking after Rice and looking back at past result
- Arsenal v Hull: Arsenal near the bottom of the table – for injuries.
By Bulldog Drummond
One of the great problems with resting players for certain games that look rather easy to win, does mean that if the ploy backfires and the lesser team beats Arsenal, the amount of abuse the manager is going to get can be enormous. Fortunately our manager takes no notice of journalistic gibberish, but it can be a bit unpleasant to read.
But on the other hand, if key players (and the current discussion of course is about Declan Rice) are played in every match and get injured, then that can look like a bad decision. But the different Rice brings to a game is something else, and if we rest him today, he’ll simply get overused in the forthcoming internationals.
And of course we all know that when something goes wrong the media will most certainly let the manager know he is to blame, because they have the absolute benefit of hindsight. No one remembers whatever some journo wrote the day or two before the match – their job is simply to come out with a headline-grabbing article that makes it looks like the manager is a lunatic and they, the journalists, know exactly how to run a club.
They don’t of course, because if they did they would be earning far more money as a league club manager than they get as a newspaper journalist, but that is the game.
As the Standard says (reprinted in UK Sports) “Saliba was an unused substitute against Slavia Prague in the Champions League on Wednesday night and is expected to make Mikel Arteta’s matchday squad again today.”
Certainly while Arsenal will be cautious with his fitness and it would be a surprise if Saliba came straight in to start against Hull, he could well feature off the bench if the game state allows. But of course I don’t get to see the medical reports.
So the Standard gives us as a line up
Raya;
Timber, Konsa, Gabriel, Calafiori;
Rice, Guimaraes;
Madueke, Odegaard, Tzolis;
Havertz
Football Lineups give us their team predictions, but they keep demanding that I prove that I am human before they release the information, and they don’t have the option through which I can select the opinion of myself, or my housemate. But on the basis I am human they now offer
Raya;
White, Konsa, Gabriel, Hincapie;
Zubimendi, Rice,
Madueke, Merino, Eze;
Havertz
Football Board, who I don’t think we have listed before come up with something that may look a trifle odd to you but it is under the heading Premier League · 2026/27 · MW 10, although other details are wrong. But I thought I would publish this although it is clearly not possible, just to show there is a reason to be cautious with what you see on the internet.
Raya;
Konsa, Calafiori, Gabriel, Hincapie;
Saka, Odegaard, Rice,
Jesus, Gyokeres, Havertz
And then I thought I would meander on a little further and came up with Poznavach which offered
Raya;
Timber, Konsa, Magalhaes Calafiori,
Rice, Guimaraes Madueke,
Odegaard, Tzolis Havertz
So a bit of choice and a few little errors in there too I think.
One further point – there is currently dense fog where I live, so if you are travelling a distance to the game it is worth checking a) that the roads are clear and b) that the match is actually on. But if you are not going and you haven’t taken on board all our ramblings ahead of this match you might find one or more of these links below helps pass the time … On the other hand I would advise against trying the Telegraph if you are in the UK as they have no proper preview of Arsenal at all today and have given over the space to a gambling company. So, as I say, instead you could try…
- Arsenal v Hull: looking after Rice and looking back at past results
- Arsenal v Hull: Arsenal near the bottom of the table – for injuries.
- Arsenal v Hull: all you wish to know about Hull City and then some
- Everywhere we turn there is talk of biased referees and dark arts. But what is the truth?
- Arsenal up to third, and calls for the ManC case to be dropped
