Yet another draw

Danny Welbeck rescued a point for Arsenal as his side were forced to settle for yet another draw following a 2-2 against Hull at the Emirates.

Despite some very mixed performances this season, I genuinely thought we would claim maximum points against the Tigers in what was the first game of the season I had missed. No offence to Hull but, even with the players missing, the starting XI put out by Arsene Wenger should still have been capable of getting a better result.

Injuries saw Wenger forced into changes, with Nacho Monreal playing out of position at centre-back and teenager Hector Bellerin making his first Premier League appearance at right-back. With that in mind, it was never going to be easy, but this issue really needs address. There is great potential within our squad and, if we could remain injury free, our strongest starting XI can compete with most sides. But it is so clear that we need more depth and stronger more experienced back-up. Bellerin looks like he could have a bright future and I am all for giving youth a chance, but we really need more depth. Wenger is no stranger to injuries and this has happened to us before and I feel we need to add more faces in January to help us get through this.

I am confident we can still finish in the top four but we really should be aiming higher than simply achieving Champions League football every year, regardless of how impressive an achievement it is. We are not too many players off being able to properly compete with the likes of Chelsea and Man City, and even proved against Man City in the league this season we are no pushovers. But the performances are not consistent enough and we need an experienced defensive midfielder, another centre-back and possibly even another striker and then, maybe then, we can seriously compete for the title.

The most frustrating thing is, we really are not that far off, but the little tweaks that need made need to be addressed! We have only lost one of our eight league games this season, which is an impressive feat but five draws from those games is simply not good enough! We are not even at the end of October and we are already 11 points behind leaders Chelsea. We need to act quickly and January needs to be a busy month for us in terms of transfers! If Wenger can get the final pieces of the jigsaw we can match City and Chelsea, but we need to add one or two players first. The other improvement we need is to be able to kill off games. It has happened too many times that we have been in control and not made our dominance count and then had to settle for a draw. We need to take our chances and be more clinical. City haven't hit top gear in all their matches, yet they are still up in second place.

Back to the match, and it all looked good when Alexis Sanchez, who has made an impressive start to his Gunners' career since joining from Barcelona over the summer, opened the scoring after 13 minutes. The Chilean winger beat Curtis Davies before continuing his run and placing a low shot beyond Steve Harper in the Hull goal.

It was a deserved lead for Wenger's men following their early dominance but lasted just four minutes. Mohamed Diame got the better of Monreal before appearing to pull back Mathieu Flamini. Referee Roger East failed to blow for a foul and with players protesting, Diame was left to clip the ball over Wojciech Szczesny for the equaliser. The goal shouldn't have been given as the foul on Flamini was blatant but, at the same time, Per Mertesacker should have played to the whistle and tried to put a challenge in instead of trying to get East's attention.

Hull were dealt a blow before half-time when Harper had to be replaced by third-choice goalkeeper Eldin Jakupovic after 43 minutes due to tearing a muscle in his left arm. But the Tigers didn't let it affect them and took a shock leadless than a minute into the second half as former Spurs duo Tom Huddlestone and Jake Livermore combined to set up Abel Hernandez to head home.

Mertesacker should've marked his man far better! The German defender didn't look like a World Cup winner and will want to bounce back with a big performance in the midweek Champions League clash with Anderlecht. Mertesacker and his absent centre-half partner Laurent Koscielny are often solid, but when basic mistakes creep in it is frustrating.

Arsenal stepped it up a gear in the final five minutes and only a fine save from Jakupovic prevented Sanchez from heading in his second goal of the game. Sanchez refused to give up and, even from the highlights alone, his superb work-rate was again clear to see and the Chilean was rewarded as he provided the assist for Arsenal's leveller.

Sanchez went on a mazy run through the defence before setting up Danny Welbeck to control the ball and send a left-foot shot into the corner of the net as Gunners' fans breathed a huge sigh of relief.

There was still time for Wenger's men to grab a winner and get the maximum three-point haul that had been expected before the match. Santi Cazorla saw his shot spilled by Jakupovic but the follow-up by substitute Joel Campbell was very poor. Sanchez still wouldn't give up and his cross got the better of the visitors defence, but Kieran Gibbs effort was well kept out by Tigers' shot-stopper.

There were to be no repeat of the heroics that saw Arsenal come from behind to beat Hull in last season's FA Cup final, so Wenger's men were left being forced to settle for yet another draw despite again dominating possession. There was at least some positives for Gunners' fans though, with key midfielder Aaron Ramsey coming off the bench to make his return from injury. Sanchez again impressed and it was great to see Welbeck get another goal, but this result again highlighted the need for us to add depth to the squad.

Focus now moves to the Champions League and the trip to Anderlecht before we return to league action away at Sunderland, who got thumped 8-0 by Southampton in their last match. No disrespect to Sunderland but if there is anyone we want to be playing soon it is them and nothing other than six points will do from these two games.

COME ON YOU GUNNERS!