Arsenal 2-0 Hull City: Arsenal Gets Two Past Hull City.
FA Cup holders Arsenal booked their place in the fourth round with a comfortable 2-0 victory over Hull City at the Emirates on Sunday evening.
In a replay of last season’s final, captain Per Mertesacker and star man Alexis Sanchez scored either side of half-time as the Gunners overcame the threat of their Premier League opponents.
The Tigers went 2-0 up inside 10 minutes at Wembley in May before losing 3-2 after extra-time but were never really in the contest this time around.
Steve Bruce made 10 changes to an injury-hit team for the trip to north London but had Tom Huddlestone and Stephen Quinn back from suspension, while Theo Walcott made his first start in a year as one of three changes from Arsene Wenger’s side’s 2-0 defeat at Southampton.
Keen to avoid a repeat of how they began the final eight months ago, the hosts made a bright start to the game with Joel Campbell, making a rare start, forcing an early save out of Steve Harper.
Tom Ince made his first start of the season for Hull and fired an effort wide from 18 yards as the visitors threatened to get a foothold in the game.
But Arsenal responded by taking the lead immediately as Sanchez swung in a corner and Mertesacker beat Curtis Davies in the air to head home from six yards.
Sanchez went close to adding a second when he rounded Harper, only for his shot to be cleared off the line by some excellent defending from Paul McShane. Walcott also had a chance to make it 2-0 before half time but shot straight at the former Newcastle goalkeeper after going through on goal.
Bruce tried to find a way back into the game in the second half by bringing on Ahmed Elmohamady and Abel Hernandez but the Gunners always looked comfortable.
Sanchez put the result beyond doubt after 82 minutes with a sublime turn and shot into the bottom corner from 18 yards, his 16th goal of the season.
