Arsenal were left halted in their progression for a third successive FA Cup trophy as they were forced into a goalless draw against a well disciplined Hull City side.
Despite the Gunners making countless attempts on goal, Arsene Wenger was left frustrated as his side failed to put a strike past the Tigers goalkeeper, who rightly won the man of the match award.
The boss admitted that his side will need to be more efficient on Tuesday night, as they welcome arguably the best club in the country at this time, Barcelona, to the Emirates.
But following another attacking display that failed to produce any goals, the boss could be facing a selection headache as gears up to choose a side worthy of lining up against Luis Enrique’s men.
Fresh Arsenal picked out three of the biggest factors from today’s FA Cup result, which could be pivotal to look back on as Arsenal head into a lengthy fixture schedule.
1 – Welbeck Is Worthy
There was no sign of the strikers performance at Leicester being a blip in his comeback, because he looked like a completely new signing today.
Welbeck made his first start for the Gunners in over 300 days, and it was a perfect tie for him to play the familiar 65 minutes that Arsene Wenger offers players returning from injury.
However, if it wasn’t down to that factor alone then the striker would’ve completed the full 90 minutes, looking most likely to break the deadlock out of all our players.
Not only was he agile and quick on his first touch, Welbeck showed us once again how versatile he can be, after starting as a left winger and enjoying spells as the solo front man and covering the right flank.
I have no doubt in my mind that he deserves to start the game on Tuesday night, but it could come down to the fact he’s not ready for a match of that intensity.
A challenge against a Barcelona side that have conceded just 19 goals in 24 La Liga appearances this season could be too much to ask of him, but the likes of Alexis and Walcott should be worried.
Neither of the wingers have shown us anything convincing over recent fixtures, and following his return from injury Alexis has failed to spark any real goal threat.
Welbeck on the other hand has worked incredibly hard whilst recovering and his power to weight ratio looks to have improved, giving him more strength to hold off players on his first touch.
The statistics also hold up a case for Welbeck to continue his run in the starting line-up, after completing an impressive 96% pass success rate, as well as four out of five take-ons.