Arsenal wary of Hull threat

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger expects Hull City to secure Barclays Premier League safety after "two amazing results" and has warned his side of the challenge they face in their visit to the KC Stadium on Monday.

Hull climbed out of the relegation places following back-to-back victories against Crystal Palace and Liverpool, leaving them two places and one point above the drop zone going into the encounter with Arsenal.

Dame N'Doye's double wrapped up Hull's 2-0 success at Selhurst Park before Michael Dawson's header downed Liverpool on Tuesday, and Wenger is wary of the threat the Tigers pose to Arsenal, who can go second with victory.

"They had two great performances when they were in quite a bad situation, but they had two amazing results," Wenger told arsenal.com. "They've just beaten Liverpool at home, so we are warned that we will face a big challenge there.

"It looks like they will stay up with their last two results. They have made a major step.

"It's very difficult to predict who will go down because I personally don't know.

"It looks very, very tight. Up to 35 points, everybody can have fear [of going down]."

Hull are on 34 points, one above Sunderland, who beat Southampton on Saturday, and Steve Bruce's side could be boosted by the return of Nikica Jelavic for the run-in after overcoming a knee problem.

The Croatia international, sidelined since March, has been in full training this week and, while Bruce is not sure whether he will be in contention for the Arsenal match, he has welcomed the return of the “important” striker, who has netted eight goals in 22 BPL appearances this term.

"Jelavic has trained all week and that is great news for us," Bruce told hullcitytigers.com.

"He's trained with the rest of the squad for the last four days so we'll now see how he is over the next three training sessions.

"We know how important he has been to us this season because 25 of the points we’ve picked up have come with him in the team."

While Mohamed Diame (knee), Andrew Robertson (ankle), Curtis Davies (thigh) all doubts, Arsenal will be buoyed by the fact they have few injuries to contend with. Mathieu Debuchy (hamstring) appears to be the only player in danger of missing out, while Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (groin) could be named among the substitutes.

Hull City (from): Harper, Jakupovic, McGregor, Bruce, Chester, Davies, Dawson, Dudgeon, Figueroa , Lenihan, McShane, Robertson, Rosenior, Brady, Diame, Elmohamady, Huddlestone, Livermore, Meyler, Quinn, Ramirez, Aluko, Hernandez, Jelavic, N'Doye, Sagbo.

Arsenal (from): Ospina, Szczesny, Bellerin, Chambers, Gabriel, Gibbs, Koscielny, Mertesacker, Monreal, Cazorla, Coquelin, Flamini, Gnabry, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ozil, Ramsey, Rosicky, Wilshere, Giroud, Sanchez, Walcott, Welbeck.

Match Appointments

Referee: Lee Mason Assistants: A Halliday, M McDonough Fourth Official: M Clattenburg

Match Facts

Arsenal have not conceded a first-half goal in their last 13 Barclays Premier League matches.

Arsene Wenger’s side have more points after 33 matches this season than any campaign since 2009/10, despite having fewer points after 12 matches than any other BPL season.

Hull come into this match on the back of a two-match winning streak. They have won three BPL matches in a row on only one previous occasion: in October 2008, when they won four in a row.

Since Hull’s return to the top flight in August 2013, Ahmed Elmohamady has fired in 429 crosses from open play, 89 more than any other player.

Story By: premierleague.com