Martin Odegaard’s 72nd-minute rebound was enough to give Arsenal a 1-0 win over Hull City at the Emirates on Saturday and move Mikel Arteta’s champions six points clear at the top of the Premier League going into the international break.
Manchester City’s 3-1 defeat at Nottingham Forest on the same day had opened the door, and Arsenal walked through it without ever looking fluent. They have now won nine of their 10 league games, have 27 points to City’s 21, and have not conceded in the competition for four matches.
Promoted Hull, winless in eight league games, held out for 72 minutes. Sergej Jakirovic’s side stayed on 11 points and sit 13th, with goalkeeper Konstantinos Tzolakis making nine saves on an afternoon when he was finally beaten only by the rebound from his own stop.
Tzolakis defied Arsenal until Odegaard pounced
Arteta made five changes from the side that faced Slavia Prague in midweek, recalling Jurrien Timber, Bruno Guimaraes, Odegaard, Christos Tzolis and Kai Havertz. William Saliba was not in the matchday squad, with Arseblog reporting that his fitness was being managed rather than any fresh injury.
The hosts had 67% of the ball and 21 shots, 10 of them on target, but Opta’s expected goals figure of 1.08 told the story of a side that dominated territory without carving Hull open. Noni Madueke was the most persistent threat and, by Arteta’s own account, had three clear chances to score.
The breakthrough owed as much to persistence as craft. Madueke drove low at the near post, Tzolakis could only parry, and Odegaard reacted first to slot home his fifth goal of the season, his third in the league. It was his first since a run of four in five games between August and September.
Arteta called on Viktor Gyokeres, Mikel Merino, Piero Hincapie and Eberechi Eze in the second half, and Hull, who collected five yellow cards and managed only two shots on target all game, could not find a reply.
VAR confusion over Havertz penalty call
The talking point came shortly before half-time. Nobel Mendy pulled Havertz’s shirt inside the area, and referee Farai Hallam was sent to the monitor by VAR. Having confirmed the foul, Hallam then announced that Havertz was offside and awarded Hull a free-kick instead of giving Arsenal a penalty.
The decision drew immediate scepticism. Former referee Mike Dean, speaking on Sky Sports, argued the foul had come first because Havertz had not yet challenged for the ball. “Havertz is an offside position but doesn’t go and challenge for the ball, so it’s not an offence,” Dean said.
Arteta was more measured but no less puzzled. “I was surprised because when they sent the referee to the monitor, I was being told it was a clear penalty for a pull,” he said. “They decided not to give it because of the starting position of Kai – he was offside – so I’m not sure what the interpretation is.”
One-nil to the Arsenal, again
The scoreline has become a signature of this era. According to Opta, this was Arsenal’s 34th 1-0 Premier League win under Arteta, more than any other side has managed since he took charge in December 2019. ESPN counts eight single-goal victories across all competitions already this season.
The defensive numbers underpin it. Arsenal have seven clean sheets from their first 10 league games, and only Birmingham City in 2003-04, Chelsea in 2004-05 and Manchester United in 2017-18 have recorded more at this stage, Opta noted. Four successive league shutouts is also the club’s longest such run since a five-match streak spanning December 2005 and January 2006, in the final season at Highbury.
Yet the manager knows those margins leave little room for error, and his post-match diagnosis was pointed. “Sometimes my feeling is that we are trying to score a perfect goal against these low blocks,” Arteta said. “We need to be much more chaotic than that, and that’s it.” He described Odegaard’s strike as “not the most beautiful one, but the most effective one”.
What six points means for the title race
A six-point lead after 10 games guarantees nothing, as Arsenal know better than most after years of chasing before they finally got over the line. But it does change the nature of the race. City must now win ground rather than merely keep pace, and they will spend the break digesting a third league defeat of the campaign.
Arsenal’s challenge is different: turning control into goals before the fixture list tightens. Their offside count, which Arteta admitted has been “too many”, and the wasted one-on-ones against Hull are the obvious items on his list.
- Record: Played 10, won nine, lost one, 27 points
- Clean sheets: Seven in 10 league games, four in a row
- Lead: Six points over second-placed Manchester City
“We’ll analyse things over the international break,” Arteta said, “because we know afterwards it will be super-difficult.” For Hull, the performance offers real encouragement but no relief from a winless run that now needs ending. For Arsenal, it was another afternoon of doing just enough, and they head into the break with six points of daylight to show for it.
Sports journalist and editor at SportsPortal.net. Covers cricket, football, Formula 1, tennis, and basketball with a focus on how global sports connect with Pakistani audiences. Follows the PSL, Pakistan national cricket team, Premier League, and major international tournaments. Has reported on sports for digital audiences since 2021.
1142 articles published
