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Mikel Arteta says Hull City have been impressive in the early weeks of the Premier League season, as he puts together a plan to try and thwart the Tigers.
City may be winless since the end of August after notching six points from the opening two matches, but Sergej Jakirovic's men have lost just two of the seven games since then and have proved a tough nut to crack, with five draws coming in that run.
The Tigers have held the likes of Aston Villa, Everton and Brentford, while they gave Chelsea a scare in leading at Stamford Bridge before being held to a 2-2 draw. They were also close to getting something at Newcastle United after a poor opening spell which saw them 2-0 down inside 10 minutes, which Arteta believes highlights how competitive they are.
The Tigers' journey to the Premier League has been well-documented, and Arteta labelled that as incredible, and says he's warned his players about what they can expect from Sergej Jakirovic's men at the Emirates.
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"It's been an incredible journey. I think what Sergej and the club have done, from last year, getting promoted and then performed and some of the difficult games that they've been through and the way they have competed and the right to get results really impressive," the Spaniard said.
"We've been discussing that with the boys, the kind of game that we expect tomorrow (Saturday), and to make sure we are crystal clear about what we have to do to beat them."
Despite Esri Konsa being withdrawn just after the hour in Prague on Wednesday night with a knee complaint, Arteta says the England defender is fine and showed no after-effects of that issue. He's also confirmed William Saliba will be involved after making his return to the squad in midweek. Bukayo Saka remains sidelined with injury and teenager Max Dowman is suspended.
"Yeah he's fine, he was feeling much better today, we took him out for precaution and for the amount of minutes that he was playing but yesterday and today he's feeling good."