Striker Oli McBurnie says Hull City are determined to go to the home of the champions on Saturday and ruffle some feathers, as they look to cause a Premier League shock.
Arsenal sit top of the table after last weekend’s games and look well on course to retain the title Mikel Arteta guided them to so impressively last season.
City will arrive at the Emirates as firm underdogs, with most outside the Tigers’ dressing room expecting Sergej Jakirovic’s men to be given a good hiding.
That won’t be on the agenda for McBurnie and his City colleagues, however, following a strong start to the season which has seen them lose just twice in their opening games following promotion.
Having already taken a deserved point at Arsenal’s London rivals Chelsea this season, as well as beating Manchester United and drawing with Europa League winners Aston Villa, the Tigers have shown they can mix it with the best and on Saturday, they’ll go up against England’s best in their own backyard.
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Of course it will be business first for McBurnie and his teammates; they’re not going to the Emirates for a guided tour, they’re going to get three points, but it’s also another chance to take in just how far they’ve come in such a short space of time.
“It’s one of those ones that probably a lot of the boys, at the start of the season, will be looking for them games, Arsenal away. The big ones, whatever team they see,” the Scotland international told Hull Live.
“Especially for the lads that haven’t been there to go to stadiums like them and play them games, and I think probably, them games, they’re almost free hits.
“Arsenal away, you’re already written off, no one expects anything of you, so you go there and try and ruffle a few feathers and get a result down there, it’d be nice.”
While Arsenal went top of the Premier League with a gritty win at Liverpool on Sunday, they have had their collars felt this season. A 3-0 thumping at Brighton and Hove Albion earlier in the season saw them well beaten, before they suffered an embarrassing Carabao Cup exit at League Two strugglers Fleetwood Town last week. They also survived a scare in Prague on Wednesday night, coming close to throwing away a commanding lead in the Champions League.
McBurnie remembers a message Chris Wilder used to give to his players when his Sheffield United side, which McBurnie was a part of, would go to the so-called bigger clubs away from home.
“They’re human; they’re not robots,” he continued. “We know they’re world-class players. Chris Wilder used to have a saying that if they’re at it, sometimes you have to hold your hands up.
“On the day, sometimes if they all have 10 out of 10 performances, they’re world-class players; sometimes you’re going to get beat. There are days when they’re not going to be at their best, and you’ve got to try and make the most of those days, so hopefully they don’t have one of those days and we can (beat them).”
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