Arsene Wenger: ‘Hull more difficult than Barcelona’

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has revealed that he found it “more difficult” to prepare his side for the FA Cup game with Hull City than their Champions League game with Barcelona.

The Gunners will welcome the Spanish champions to the Emirates for the first leg of their last-16 tie tomorrow night, just three days after they were frustrated by Championship side Hull in the fifth round of the FA Cup.

“The difficulty of the task is completely different,” Wenger told reporters this afternoon. “But it is more difficult to prepare against Hull than against Barcelona.

“Against Barcelona everyone is focussed naturally, so [my job is] more to create belief and confidence, because Barcelona are super favourites in this game. Against Hull it’s more to raise the urgency level and convince everybody that it’s a very difficult game.

“Tomorrow everybody’s convinced that we need to be as a whole squad totally focused. We have a chance and that’s what I try to raise – that belief, confidence and let’s go for it.”

A date for the FA Cup replay at the KC Stadium has yet to be determined.