Arsenal vs Hull match report: Eldin Jakupovic the hero as Gunners face replay

Arsenal 0 Hull City 0

(Getty Images)

Arsenal could not squeeze a goal out of this surprisingly intense fifth-round tie because of Hull’s second-choice keeper, so the two teams will have to struggle to squeeze another match into an already busy schedule. Steve Bruce said the replay would likely be during the week beginning 6 March – potentially two days after what could be the biggest north London derby in decades, as Arsenal face fellow title challengers Tottenham Hotspur – and it will no doubt mean asking both clubs’ overworked squads for even more as they chase multiple trophies.

With more than one eye on those other goals, there were wholesale changes to both teams – nine for Arsenal, 10 for Hull – as Arsène Wenger looked ahead to Barcelona in the Champions League on Tuesday and Championship-topping Steve Bruce prepared for a run of seven games in the space of 25 days for Hull.

However, in trying to rest so many players, Arsenal still had to send on star names in the form of Alexis Sanchez and Olivier Giroud to try and settle the tie but still face an extra game because they couldn’t find a way past Eldin Jakupovic has not played a single league game this season. The Bosnia goalkeeper denied anything that came at him and was undeniably man of the match, even if he was not alone in brilliantly over-performing for Hull.

“He’s waited enough,” Bruce said of his stand-in goalkeeper. “The form of [first-choice Allan] McGregor, it’s never easy to be No 2. He’ll remember that one and kept us in the cup.”

Wenger also complemented Jakupovic, who pulled off the save of the game – with a stop from a deflected Danny Welbeck effort on the hour – but couldn’t look past his own team’s wastefulness.

“Their keeper did well, of course. We had, I don’t know, 70 per cent possession and over 20 shots on goal and didn’t score. We have to look at ourselves well.”

This was also the oddity of the game. Jakupovic was brilliant but the vast majority of his fine saves came from long-range shots or deflected efforts. Because the improvised backline in front of him was so well marshalled and so deep, Arsenal rarely created anything closer in than the penalty spot. The best chance of the game came from further out and was even before Sanchez and Giroud were introduced on 67 minutes, as Alex Iwobi’s shot at an almost open goal was deflected just wide.

Joel Campbell then hit the post from a free-kick three minutes later, and Mathieu Flamini blazed over from the rebound, but Japukovic was stopping everything else.

With the way things were going, Hull would have surely fancied their goalkeeper in a shoot-out, and Bruce did ask aloud why the game couldn’t just have been decided by that on the day. The first match of the FA Cup weekend therefore led to another debate about replays.

“I think we have to rearrange Brentford at home [9 March],” Bruce said. “Where we have to arrange that one, God only knows.

“We’re going to end up playing four games in seven or eight days, but that’s the rigours of the Championship. There’s nobody more traditionalist than me but why can’t we just put it to penalties, especially for supporters who have to try and find the money for another game?

“We all enjoy the FA Cup and for our club when we got to the final [in 2014] it was the biggest day of our lives but [scrapping] replays is something we maybe have to look into.”

Wenger wasn’t quite so anguished about the extra game, despite the looming shadow of Barcelona, and even made a joke about the Brexit poll as he somewhat defended the current FA Cup system.

“I said I like the English formula because it’s a little bit special and like the idea in England you don’t do things like anywhere else… like you’re negotiating with Brussels now,” said the Arsenal manager.

Wenger certainly seemed serene about it all and, despite claiming “I’m not as relaxed as I look”, he did look at the bigger picture.

“A nightmare, no. The nightmare would have been to go out,” he said. “It’s not what we wanted. We have a replay. I’m happy for the replay. The frustration is not to score.

“We will not have that possession on Tuesday night so we must be more efficient. We were favourites today, we won’t be on Tuesday night.”

He will need to squeeze everything out of the Arsenal side, but that might set the right tone for the next few weeks.

Arsenal: (4-2-3-1) Ospina; Chambers, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs; Flamini, Elneny; Campbell (Giroud, 67), Iwobi (Oxlade-Chamberlain, 75), Welbeck (Sanchez, 67); Walcott.

Hull: (3-5-1-1) Jakupovic; Maguire, Bruce, Davies; Elmohamady, Taylor (Huddleston, 55), Powell (Aluko, 78), Meyler, Tymon (Odubajo, 55); Maloney; Diomande.

Referee: Mike Dean

Man of the match: Jakupovic (Hull)

Match rating: 7/10