Arteta urges Arsenal to take Hull City seriously

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has warned his players not to underestimate Hull City before their Premier League match at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday.

Arteta said he has been impressed by Hull’s performances during their promotion campaign. He noted their return to the English top flight, even though they have struggled to win recently.

Hull, managed by Sergej Jakirovic, has not won in eight matches across all competitions. They have managed to draw five times in their first nine Premier League games and have only lost twice.

Before Saturday’s match, Arteta spoke on the club website on Friday. He praised Hull for their fight against tough teams and mentioned that Arsenal prepared for what to expect from them.

“It’s been an incredible journey from what the club has done last year. Some of the difficult games they’ve come through and competed in, they’ve earned the right to be here and been impressive,” he said.

He added, “We’ve been discussing that with the boys on what to expect from them tomorrow and to be clear on what we need to do to beat them. Tomorrow is the main focus of everything we’ve done, we need to go, be better than Hull, and beat them.”

This match will be the last one for both teams before the international break in November. After the break, Arsenal will face Newcastle United and then play 11 consecutive matches in London, including seven at the Emirates Stadium.

Arteta mentioned his team has managed a tough schedule well, despite facing strong opponents and long travels early in the 2026/27 season.

“We have to deal with [the schedule] and have done it really well so far, with a lot of difficult opponents and travel. We want to attack again tomorrow, right from the off,” he said.

Arteta also highlighted the need to keep high standards in both attacking and defending if Arsenal wants to keep the Premier League title. He said the team’s success relies on every player’s commitment to different parts of the game, like attacking, set-pieces, and transitions.

“It does matter, everything matters. You are able to [win] because of the compromise and commitment of every single player,” Arteta said.

“The same with attack responsibility, anything related to set-pieces, transitions, everything as a whole. You need to sustain an incredible level across 10 months and to do that, you need to have everything. Otherwise, you won’t be able to do it.