Arsenal 2-0 Hull City

Arsenal began their defence of the FA Cup with a hard-fought win as Hull City failed to gain a measure of revenge for defeat in last year's final.

Per Mertesacker rose above the Hull defence to powerfully head in the opener from Alexis Sanchez's corner.

Arsenal controlled the first half and almost doubled their lead when Hull's Paul McShane cleared off the line.

Hull grew in confidence after half-time but Sanchez's sharp turn and calm finish inside 18 yards sealed victory.

The Chile forward has become Arsenal's talisman since his £35m summer move from Barcelona and another moment of quality eased any lingering fears of Hull snatching a late draw at the Emirates.

In truth, the Tigers rarely looked capable of avenging their dramatic 3-2 defeat at Wembley last May and this third-round tie failed to match the fever and tension of last season's showpiece.

Arsenal controlled 65% of the possession in the first half, but failed to transform their dominance into a comfortable lead against injury-hit Hull.

Tigers boss Steve Bruce was left with only 18 first-team players available, but still managed to make 10 changes from the side which beat Everton on New Year's Day.

Hull are fighting for top-flight survival and Bruce decided to freshen up his squad as he prioritises forthcoming Premier League matches against West Brom and West Ham.

His changed team provided plenty of endeavour but they lacked the guile needed to hurt an Arsenal side which suffered their first defeat in six matches at Southampton on New Year's Day.

Hull raced into a 2-0 lead inside eight minutes when they met at Wembley and, although the visitors made another high-tempo start, Arsenal were more defensively alert on this occasion.

And once skipper Mertesacker escaped Hull counterpart Curtis Davies to nod in the opener, the Gunners never looked in danger of suffering a second home FA Cup defeat in 39 matches.

Arsene Wenger's side did lose some rhythm in the first part of the second half as Hull pressed their opponents higher up the pitch. But they failed to seriously stretch Gunners keeper David Ospina.

England forward Theo Walcott, 24, played 75 minutes on his first Gunners start for exactly a year as he continues to make his comeback from a serious knee injury and showed brief flashes of his pacy threat.

A Santi Cazorla pass allowed Sanchez to clinically fire in as Arsenal continue their bid to become only the eighth club to retain the FA Cup.

Hull City manager Steve Bruce:

"If we're going to be honest Arsenal deserved to win. We just needed to stay in there but unfortunately, at the top end of the pitch, we were unable to create anything.

"The disappointing thing for me is that the first goal is the first we've conceded from a corner this season. Mertesacker is huge - we should be doing better than that. We battled on valiantly but we weren't quite good enough.

"I know most teams get injuries but we can't carry six or seven missing - that's what we were doing today. We were down to the bare bones but there are no excuses, the better team won."

Per Mertesacker scored his first Arsenal goal since last season's FA Cup semi-final against Wigan

Arsenal sealed their passage into the fourth round through Alexis Sanchez's 16th goal of the campaign

Theo Walcott made his first Arsenal start since their FA Cup win against Spurs on 4 January last year

Arsenal came back from a 2-0 deficit to beat Hull in last year's final - their first silverware in nine seasons