Hull City head coach Sergej Jakirovic joked about the challenge of facing Premier League leaders Arsenal away from home. The forthcoming match at the Emirates will be Hull's 200th in the top flight, against the reigning champions.
At his pre-match press conference, the visiting coach offered an ironic assessment:
Yes, a very easy game for us. Not difficult at all.
Jakirovic smiled immediately after the joke before turning to a more serious analysis.
Jokes aside, added the coach, expressing pride at the milestone of 200 top-flight matches and thanking the supporters.
They are magnificent. A really, really strong team. Regardless of who is on the pitch, they cause us enormous problems.
Jakirovic compared Arsenal with PSG, saying they play some of the best football in Europe, control matches completely, create space through movement and are extremely dangerous at set pieces. The coach believes defending deep and passively with nine players, for example in a 5-4-1 formation, would be a sure route to a heavy defeat:
If you sit back and are passive, they will destroy you. You simply won't have a chance.
Instead, the coach wants his side to be aggressive, stay compact without the ball, contest every duel and break quickly on the counter-attack. Hull go into the match without the suspended Matt Crooks, while goalkeeper Jack Butland is recovering from injury.
