Sanchez strikes twice to put Arsenal on brink of Champions League place
Arsenal may be missing from the main events in Turin and Barcelona this week but Arsène Wenger’s team delivered a down payment on next season’s Champions League last night. For the first time in a decade,Arsenal maycome second in the Premier League.
In a performance of speed and skill, with Alexis Sanchez at its heart, the Gunners sliced Hull City apart in the first half. Sanchez scored his 15th and 16th league goals of a marvellous first season in England and the win – Arsenal’s ninth in their last 10 Premier League matches – took the Londoners level on points with Manchester City.
Arsenal have a game in hand. It is at home to Sunderland, who have the same sort of relegation-haunted profile as Hull. At a time of the year when goal difference acquires a sudden fascination, Steve Bruce’s team slipped a place below Leicester in the table owing to Arsenal’s three.
Hull, hit by Sanchez and Aaron Ramsey, pulled one back through Stephen Quinn in an improved second half. They face Burnley here on Saturday. That should determine whether Hull survive or not.
This was a rematch of last year’s FA Cup final – and this season’s third round – which the travelling fans were not slow to point out.
Of course, Hull lost both of those, but there was a 2-2 draw in north London in October and Hull entered this game with some of the optimism accompanying their visitors.
Since losing to Harry Kane’s late winner at White Hart Lane in early February, Arsenal had played nine league games, won eight and drawn the other – the 0-0 against Chelsea nine days ago. But back-to-back victories over Crystal Palace and Liverpool had given Hull hope as well, hope that the seeming drift towards the Championship could be reversed.
Those two victories also brought back-to-back clean sheets and here Hull lined up determined to secure another. It didn’t work.
Ahmed Elmohamady and Robbie Brady are wingers by instinct, and trade, but they were full-backs stationed wide of Steve Bruce’s preferred three centre-halves. Even with those numbers, there were still a couple of early worries for Hull as Arsenal set about breaking them down. A 12thminute exchange between Sanchez and Mesut Özil forced Steve Harper into his first serious action. Sanchez looked hungry from the off.
But Hull settled. As some fans demonstrated their continued opposition to chairman Assem Allam’s naming plans, Elmohamadyand Bradybegan to probe forward.
On 22 minutes, Brady did this to effect, whipping in a winger’s cross that SoneAluko met six yards out. Unfortunately for Aluko, his header hit Per Mertesacker, though it was going wide anyway.
Hull must have felt reasonably safe. But just over 10 minutes later they were two down and by half-time the contest was over.
Cruelty is long established in football and Hull suffered two deflections past Harper. The first was a Sanchez freekick on 28 minutes, awarded for a foul on him. Sanchez took the kick and it clipped the top of Michael Dawson’s head in the wall. Harper was wrong-footed and, even with Elmohamady back on the line, the ball found a path into the net.
Five minutes later Santi