Hull City 1 Arsenal 4: Penalty miss costs Sanchez hat-trick against 10-man Tigers
Alexis Sanchez scored twice and missed a penalty as Arsenal secured a 4-1 Premier League win against 10-man Hull City at the KCOM Stadium.
Sanchez struck late to earn Arsenal a point in the Champions League clash with Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday, and he played an influential role again on Saturday, although he was unable to complete a hat-trick.
The Chilean got the slightest of touches on Alex Iwobi’s shot to give Arsenal the lead after 17 minutes, and Jake Livermore was sent off for deliberate handball just before half-time.
Eldin Jakupovic saved Sanchez’s effort from the resultant penalty but Hull could not resist the waves of Arsenal attacks in the second half and Walcott netted his 100th career goal after 55 minutes.
Hull pulled one back through a Robert Snodgrass penalty, but Sanchez bagged his second of the game before Granit Xhaka – who replaced Santi Cazorla in the 67th minute – rifled home his first goal for the club with a phenomenal 30-yard strike in second-half stoppage time.
The victory is Arsenal’s seventh in eight games against the Tigers, and Gunners boss Arsene Wenger will have been pleased to see his side dominate and pick up their third Premier League win on the bounce.
The home side passed the ball well in the early stages but failed to threaten Arsenal’s goal, and they paid the price in the 17th minute.
Jakupovic parried a cross-goal shot from Walcott straight to Iwobi, whose follow-up effort found the back of the net via the slightest of touches off Sanchez.
The Arsenal pressure continued and Hull had Jakupovic to thank for keeping them in the game when he made a brilliant save from Iwobi down to his right before Mesut Ozil put the rebound over.
Arsenal went back on the attack and the ever-lively Walcott crossed for Francis Coquelin, whose shot was blocked by the hand of Livermore in the box for a straight red card.
Sanchez took the ensuing penalty but Jakupovic made a brilliant one-handed save down to his right to ensure Hull only trailed by one goal at the break.
It took Arsenal just 10 minutes of the second half to score again when a move started by Cazorla saw Iwobi provide a sublime back-heeled pass for Walcott to latch onto and score from a tight angle.
The home side kept fighting and Ahmed Elmohamady floated a shot just wide before substitute Dieumerci Mbokani – making his Hull debut – was brought down by Petr Cech in the penalty area.
Referee Roger East consulted with his assistant before pointing to the spot and Snodgrass fired his seventh goal in seven games for club and country, but hopes of a fightback were nipped in the bud.
Sanchez slid a throughball to Walcott, whose effort was well saved by Jakupovic, but the Chilean was there to pick up the rebound and slam the ball high into the net with seven minutes remaining.
Substitute Xhaka put the icing on the cake when he was given acres of space to launch a spectacular 30-yard strike that looped over Jakupovic.
Key Opta stats:
– Arsenal have won more games at the KCOM Stadium in all competitions than any other away side (6).
– Alexis Sanchez has been involved in eight goals in his five games against Hull in all competitions (6 goals, 2 assists).
– However, Sanchez’s penalty miss means he’s the only Arsenal player to take more than one Premier League penalty and fail to score with any of them (also missing against QPR in December 2014).
– Arsene Wenger’s side haven’t lost any of their last 26 Premier League games against newly promoted sides (W22 D4).
