Arsenal-Hull City Preview

Mar 11, 2010 - 3:33 PM NEIL RICHARDS STATS European Football Writer=

LONDON (SE) - Arsene Wenger says it will need a miracle for injured captain Cesc Fabregas to face Hull on Saturday, but the Gunners have already shown once this week they can cope without their influential playmaker.

Arsenal are fresh off a 5-0 demolition of Porto in the Champions League on Tuesday, which the Spaniard was forced to watch from the sidelines with a hamstring injury.

The result was significant on several counts: Arsenal had not overturned a first-leg deficit in European competition since beating Hajduk Split in the UEFA Cup in 1978 and Nicklas Bendtner hit the first hat-trick in Europe at the Emirates Stadium after missing a hatful of chances in the previous match with Burnley. Victory also silenced the critics who claim the London club struggle without Fabregas on the pitch, something which looks likely to be the case again on Saturday.

Earlier in the week Wenger had described his captain's chances of facing Hull as "50-50", but on Thursday he has downgraded that to 0.5 per cent.

"If no miracle happens he will not play," Wenger said. "At the moment he is out of the game for Saturday."

The Gunners are level on points with Chelsea and just two points behind leaders Manchester United in what is turning into a thrilling three-team title race, something which was hard to imagine when Arsenal's 2-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge just a month ago left them nine points off the pace.

"We've been written off twice already, I think," defender Thomas Vermaelen told the official Arsenal website. "Maybe (we will have the last laugh) we will see at the end of the season. You have to focus every game and we will see where we are at the end of the season.

"We're still in the race for both things, for the League and the Champions League, but you have to stay focused on every game. Every game is difficult and you cannot look further than one game. You have to focus on the next game and that is Hull City. You have to win every game."

Arsenal will definitely be without defender William Gallas, who has had a suffered a setback in his recovery from a calf injury.

Wenger said: "Gallas has been out for a month and now he has had a recurrence of his calf injury. He has gone backwards again. We were impatient with him and we pushed him and he wanted to get on as well, that is why maybe it has happened."

It is quite possible that this will be the Frenchman's last season at the Emirates. He is out of contract in the summer and the indications are that he is unlikely to take a pay cut for a new deal, something that Arsenal are keen for the 32-year-old to do.

Roma, managed by Claudio Ranieri, Gallas' old boss at Chelsea, are one of the clubs monitoring the situation closely.

Hull were hammered 5-1 by Everton last weekend, but at least manager Phil Brown could be boosted by the return of three key players as he looks to lift flagging morale on Humberside.

Craig Fagan has served a one-match suspension and Brown is also hopeful of welcoming back Stephen Hunt and Andy Dawson, who had started every match prior to the defeat at Goodison Park.

Brown told the Hull Daily Mail: "Stephen Hunt's damage to his foot is one where it needs rest and fingers crossed he will have sufficient rest to play in the Arsenal game.

"Andy had a bad bout of asthma. A lot of people have tried to highlight Andy's limitations but for me, it's when he's not there you see how much you miss him."

Jimmy Bullard is set to keep his place in midfield, despite an ineffective return at Everton following three months out with a knee injury.

Hull have lost three in a row, all away from home, and sit just one off the bottom.

But having been beaten twice in their first three matches at home, they have lost just once in their last ten outings at the KC Stadium and will be looking to produce the sort of form that downed Manchester City 2-1 in their last match there more than a month ago.