Arsenal are building a wall around their precious trophy with ugly bricks. While the stylists and aesthetes among us can moan about such details, a quick glance at the league table will be sufficient for Mikel Arteta to rest easy during the international break.
There are certainly things for him to improve. Masses of them. And we can all share the disappointment that the sum of such gifted parts is often quite underwhelming. There’s a relentlessness about that conversation.
But Arsenal are relentless in other ways, too. Which is to say they are finding ways to win, with this their ninth in 10 games and arguably the least convincing of an unconvincing bunch.
If Manchester City weren’t facing up to the possibility of an apocalyptic punishment, those performances would likely cause greater concern, but it’s a tangential argument. A purist’s debate. And by extension it is pointless against the single factor that matters most – scoring more than the other lot.
In this case, grimy as it was, that fell to Martin Odegaard, who nudged the winner over the line after benefiting from a favourable rebound after Konstantinos Tzolakis had saved from Noni Madueke.
The latter is surfing ever faster on the wave of his current form and impressed throughout this match, but he was largely alone in that regard. For all they might grumble about the officiating, including one snubbed claim for a Kai Havertz penalty in the first half, Arsenal were poor.
Martin Odegaard secured Arsenal’s fourth Premier League win in succession against Hull
The Gunners had been frustrated by the newly-promoted side before Odegaard pounced
For the majority of the first half, this was all about Hull, who hadn’t won since August but have drawn plenty. They have faded a little of late, and given up winning in positions of four games in their past seven, but Sergej Jakirovic is doing good work. Here, he had Arteta baffled for long stretches and elements of the blueprint will have been noted by future opposition.
Jakirovic’s intentions had been clear, both on the team sheet and the pitch. He kept with his default setting for a back five, but switched from a 5-4-1 to 5-3-2 and introduced Mohamed-Ali Cho to partner Oli McBurnie in attack.
It was the first time this season that Hull’s manager has used a front two and dovetailed with his midweek warning that sitting back would lead nowhere but trouble. Instead, the aim was to squeeze, suffocate and chase the champions at every turn. That worked for an hour for Leeds and likewise for Hull.
Inside the first 70 seconds, they had forced a corner. A moment later, John Egan outjumped Gabriel Margalhaes and headed into the side netting.
Soon enough, David Raya was almost pressed into one of those blooper-reel passing errors, and then he was forced into a save by Regan Slater. In landing a shot on target, Hull had achieved a greater threat after 18 minutes than Liverpool delivered against Arsenal in the entire 90 at Anfield last weekend.
It was strong stuff. And ballsy as hell. Arsenal had space to exploit at the other end, but that was contingent on having the composure to pick the right pass. For an awfully long time, that eluded them.
Christos Tzolis and Kai Havertz each offered the limpest of protests for early penalties, neither of which was credible, and Declan Rice belatedly caused some threat when he cracked a half-volley a fraction wide. For a while, that was as good as it got, before a third penalty appeal came and went, albeit in far more contentious circumstances.
The offence traced to a clear shirt-pull by Nobel Mendy on Havertz, with referee Farai Hallam subsequently called to the screen to check if it merited a foul. Returning to the field and engaging his microphone, he confirmed it did, but added ‘however’ to his speech, because Havertz was in an offside position. The verdict: a Hull free-kick.
Arsenal were denied a penalty following a shirt pull on centre forward Kai Havertz
Mikel Arteta demands a free kick in Arsenal’s favour on a frustrating afternoon in north London
A word on Hallam – he was the referee who also overruled the VAR on his Premier League debut last season. It’s good to see an official who backs his own judgement, so fair play, but was he in the right?
Such is the mess engulfing the laws on offside, an argument could be put forward that, according to the regulations, the foul should take precedence over the offside as Havertz wasn’t yet challenging for the ball. A counterpoint: it’s an absurd and inconsistently applied law.
None of which helped Arsenal, of course. Not for the first time, they were struggling to utilise the creative talents in their side, with Rice and Martin Odegaard swamped in the middle and their supply lines to Tzolis almost non-existent.
Noni Madueke, to his credit, created his own threats, but they were in isolation. When Havertz had a decent opening late in the half, he took one touch too many and allowed Mendy to challenge. It was bleak.
Kicking his heels on the bench was Viktor Gyokeres, who had one of his finest Arsenal performances at Slavia Prage on Wednesday. His reward for a goal and an assist was one of those soul-crushing demotions for Premier League business, and he wasn’t introduced here for more than an hour.
By then, Arsenal had asserted some control. Tzolis was drawing countless fouls, including one from Lewie Coyle that ought to have drawn a second yellow card as Hull’s pressure strayed closer to brute force. Their grip on a point was loosening.
First, Madueke drew a save from Tzolakis and then he forced another after skipping around Elliot Stroud and pulling the trigger. This one proved decisive, because the save rebounded to Odegaard. He poached the winner.
Madueke then ought to have killed the match, but opted to round Tzolakis instead of taking on the shot when through. The keeper won that battle; Arsenal won the game. Ultimately, not much else mattered.
