Arsenal Held Down By Less Fanciful Hull

Arsenal’s FA Cup winning streak came to an end today as the less celebrated Hull City held them to a goalless draw at the Emirates and earned a fifth-round replay.
Hull started brightly, but Arsenal, who had won their previous 14 games in the competition, were soon into their stride. They had a strong penalty claim which was turned down by referee Mike Dean in the eighth minute, when Mohamed Elneny’s goalbound shot was blocked by the arm of Alex Bruce.
Danny Welbeck was making his first start in 10 months for the hosts. He went close twice in quick succession, first heading straight at Eldin Jakupovic before again being denied by the Hull goalkeeper from a tight angle.
Alex Iwobi then curled wide as the Gunners continued to pile on the pressure, with Theo Walcott also kept out by Jakupovic after a smart turn in the box.
Hull survived the onslaught and the rest of the first half went by with little incident.
The Gunners came out firing upon the resumption and Walcott again tested Jakupovic with a low strike before Iwobi shot wide for a second time.
Joel Campbell thought that he had beaten Jakupovic in the 54th minute, but the Hull keeper got a fingertip to the Costa Rican’s free kick to divert it against the post as Arsenal cranked up the pressure again.
Welbeck was next to wonder how Jakupovic had stopped him before Hull had a rare chance down the other end that David Meyler fired into the side-netting.
If anything, the Championship side improved as the match drew to a close, restricting Arsenal to speculative efforts from distance that Jakupovic had no problem dealing with.
Hull’s number-two finished with 11 saves to his name as Arsenal failed to find a late winner, so they will need to fit in a replay along with the Champions League last-16 tie against Barcelona in the coming weeks. [myad]