PREM: Arsenal v Hull City preview

Arsenal v Hull City preview

Arsenal will be looking to avoid a third straight Premier League defeat when they host a resurgent Hull.

The Gunners followed up a 2-1 home loss to Watford with a 3-1 defeat at Chelsea that left them 12 points behind the league leaders.

Despite the sizeable gap, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has not given up on the title.

"It's never over - we cannot behave like that," he said. "Even if you think it is, I don't. We cannot even think like that.

"We look at the teams around us and we're all in a pack that is very tight, where the fight for every position will be massive like it has always been in the Premier League, maybe even more this season than ever before.

"The way we respond to our disappointing result last Saturday is vital."

While Arsenal's form has dipped recently, Hull's results have improved under new head coach Marco Silva.

The Portuguese has taken seven points from his four league games, including a 2-0 victory over Liverpool last weekend. That win lifted the Tigers just a point from safety.

 

Arsenal have doubts over the fitness of Hector Bellerin. The right-back appeared concussed when he left the field in last weekend's defeat at Chelsea and Gabriel will be on-call to replace the Spaniard against the Tigers.

Wenger has seen his midfield concerns eased by Mohamed Elneny's timely return from the African Nations Cup but Aaron Ramsey (calf) and Santi Cazorla (Achilles) remain sidelined and Granit Xhaka is banned.

Hull will be without skipper Michael Dawson and Abel Hernandez for the trip to the Emirates.

Dawson (calf) and striker Hernandez (hamstring) will be out for several weeks, while Curtis Davies, Markus Henriksen and Ryan Mason remain sidelined.

Midfielder Ahmed Elmohamady is back in contention following African Nations Cup duty with Egypt and on-loan winger Lazar Markovic, ineligible to face his parent club Liverpool last week, is available again.