Hull City 0 Arsenal 4: Helping hand sees Gunners complete hat-trick

Not, however, for the reasons why European football’s governing body fought so hard to prevent last night’s fifth-round tie clashing with action from Madrid and Wolfsburg before reluctantly accepting a 7pm kick-off in East Yorkshire after earlier petitioning the FA for a tea-time start.

Instead, a horror moment for David Meyler, committing the sort of howler that invariably finds its way on to those ‘Own Goals and Gaffes’ style DVDs that appear for the Christmas market, will surely have had viewers turning over in their droves to catch a glimpse.

Under little or no pressure deep in his own penalty area, City’s stand-in captain for the night inexplicably attempted a pass across the face of goal.

Meyler can’t have looked first because the ball fell straight at the feet of Olivier Giroud, who made no mistake from eight yards to score the first goal Hull had conceded at the KC Stadium in almost 11 hours.

It proved to be the pivotal moment in what for 70 minutes was a tight encounter, during which the Championship club had matched the holders for long periods and had several decent chances of their own.

Meyler came the closest to netting for the Tigers with a fierce drive that David Ospina beat away when the game was goalless, while Aaron Ramsey was fortunate to see an attempted clearing header flash just wide of his own post during the second half.

However, as well as City performed – and Harry Maguire was truly outstanding in defence, while midfield duo Tom Huddlestone and Nick Powell were lively – Giroud marking the birth of his son the previous night with a second goal and a late double by Theo Walcott meant Arsenal had beaten the Tigers in the Cup for the third season running.

Steve Bruce said: “The final score was harsh – but also a gentle reminder about what the Premier League is like. They were clinical in their finishing, even though we gave them the first two goals.

“The first goal was one of those horrible moments. You can’t give Arsenal a leg-up like that.”

Considering Arsenal’s last defeat in Hull had come more than a century ago and all four Premier League meetings at the KC Stadium had gone the way of Arsene Wenger’s men, the last thing the hosts could afford was to give the Londoners a helping hand.

That, though, is exactly what happened when Meyler committed football ‘suicide’ with his attempted pass across the Hull six- yard box.

The 40th-minute howler was the third time a misplaced pass from Meyler had put City in trouble, something that jarred with the rest of the Championship side’s performance up to that point.

Otherwise, Bruce’s men had been neat in possession when able to get the ball off the visitors. They had also come closest to breaking the deadlock before Giroud’s opener, Meyler bringing a fine reflex save from Ospina with a drive that followed an almighty scramble in the Gunners’ goalmouth. Ahmed Elmohamady then fired in following another scramble but a linesman’s flag cut short any celebrations.

Bruce added: “The linesman got it wrong. Three were standing offside but they weren’t the player retrieving the ball.”

That let-off for the Premier League side was followed by Giroud and Mohamed Elneny going into referee Mike Jones’s notebook for fouls that were born of frustration, fuelling hopes that an upset could be on.

Instead, Meyler’s woeful attempted pass firmly handed the initiative to Arsenal. Hull did have their moments in the second half, as, first, Adama Diomande was played clear only to stumble and allow the four defenders in hot pursuit to make up the ground before Mohamed Diame and Nick Powell spurned decent openings.

Ramsey also came within a whisker of heading into his own net when trying to clear Elmohamady’s cross. As hard as the Tigers pushed, however, there was always a suspicion that Arsenal would grab a crucial second goal and so it proved on 70 minutes.

Giroud again provided the finish, the French striker firing in a half-volley after Walcott’s cross had deceived Curtis Davies.

The game was up for City, who conceded two further times in stoppage time as Walcott gave the scoreline a very cruel look and sent the Gunners through to meet Watford in the last eight this weekend.

Hull City: Jakupovic; Maguire, Bruce, Davies; Elmohamady, Diame, Huddlestone, Meyler (Aluko 58), Odubajo (Robertson 81); Powell, Diomande (Taylor 89). Unused substitutes: Kuciak, Hernandez, Livermore, Tymon.

Arsenal: Ospina; Chambers, Mertesacker (Monreal 31), Gabriel (Ramsey 57, Reine-Adelaide 72), Gibbs; Flamini, El-Nenny; Walcott, Iwobi, Campbell; Giroud. Unused substitutes: Macey, Ozil, Sanchez, Reine-Adelaide, Willock.

Referee: M Jones (Cheshire).