Arsenal 1-0 Hull City: Ødegaard finally breaks Tigers' resistance

Hull arrived in London with five defenders and a very deep block. For more than an hour, the plan held. Arsenal had the ball, plenty of it, but lacked the final touch. Early on, Gabriel Magalhães failed to force home a Konsa flick-on at the back post. Declan Rice then fired just wide from the edge of the box before the half-hour mark.

The visitors had their moments too. Elliot Stroud forced David Raya into a full-stretch save, the main scare for the Spanish goalkeeper in the first half. Before the break, Kai Havertz was sent clear towards goal, but he could not get himself into a shooting position and the ball ran away from him. Christos Tzolis was no luckier against Tzolakis.

The turning point of the first half came in the 43rd minute. Havertz went down in the box with his shirt held by Nobel Mendy. Referee Farai Hallam went to the monitor to review the incident, but an offside against the German forward was what stood. No penalty, and 0-0 at the break.

Arsenal stepped up a gear after the restart. Noni Madueke forced Tzolakis into action at his near post shortly before the hour. In the 63rd minute, Mikel Arteta sent on Mikel Merino and Viktor Gyökeres for Rice and Havertz, then Eberechi Eze and Piero Hincapié in the 69th. Three minutes later, Madueke unleashed a powerful shot in the box. Tzolakis pushed it away, but not far enough. Ødegaard followed up and put the ball in the net. In the closing minutes, Madueke tried once more to go round the goalkeeper, but a Hull defender cleared off the line.

Twenty-one shots for a single goal

Arsenal had 67% of possession and played 590 passes, against 279 for Hull. The Gunners attempted 21 shots, 10 of them on target, while the Tigers managed only 2 on target from 7. Tzolakis therefore stopped nine of the ten. The expected goals, 1.3 to 0.38, tell the same story: Arsenal dominated without creating an avalanche of clear chances.

The other figure speaks to how Hull defended. The visitors committed 15 fouls, against 6 for Arsenal, and five of their players were booked. Manager Sergej Jakirović was also shown a yellow card in the 54th minute, for dissent. Arsenal finished without a single booking.

The captain in the right place

The only goal of the afternoon came down to a reflex. Madueke struck the ball hard, and Tzolakis got a hand to it without being able to hold it or push it wide. Ødegaard, lurking close to goal, was quicker than the defenders and finished from close range. After nine saves, Tzolakis pays for the one stop he could not control.

A win built on patience, a defence that gives nothing away

SNA verdict: Arsenal did not deliver their most fluent performance, but they won the game they had to win before the break. The defending champions lacked a cutting edge in front of goal for more than an hour. Arteta admitted as much after the match: his side missed big chances and had to rely on weight of possession to eventually break Hull down.

The 43rd-minute incident is still being debated. The images did show Havertz's shirt being pulled by Mendy, but it was the German's offside that drove the final decision. Arteta said he was baffled after the match and indicated that his club had yet to receive any clear explanation.

At the back, Arsenal gave away almost nothing. Ezri Konsa won all seven of his duels and made a saving challenge on Mohamed Ali Cho during a Hull counter-attack. The Gunners record their seventh clean sheet in ten league matches. Hull, for their part, leave with a regret. Jakirović praised his players' courage without the ball, but called for better decisions and quicker transitions once they had won it back.

Arteta changes everything, the goal follows

The goal came three minutes after Arteta's second wave of substitutions. Merino put both his shots on target in 27 minutes, Gyökeres his one. Jakirović had replaced Cho with Joe Gelhardt in the 60th minute, then Lewie Coyle, booked in the 34th, with Brooke Norton-Cuffy in the 61st. The latter was booked in the same minute. In the 75th, Stroud, booked just before, and Tim Iroegbunam made way for Ryan Giles and Christos Mouzakitis. Martín Zubimendi came on in the 89th to close out the game.

Ajayi solid, Mendy at the heart of the controversy

Nigeria international Semi Ajayi was one of Hull's best players. In 69 minutes, the centre-back won seven of his eight duels, made three tackles and even got a shot on target from his two attempts. He went off in the 69th minute, replaced by Lucas Herrington, three minutes before the opening goal. SNA rating: 7.

Senegal's Nobel Mendy played the whole match in Hull's back five. He was the one holding Havertz's shirt in the 43rd-minute incident, and the final offside decision spared him from conceding a penalty. He won two of four duels, played 24 passes, and was booked in the 87th minute for a foul. SNA rating: 6.

Six-point lead before the break

Arsenal make it a fifth straight Premier League win and have 27 points after ten matchdays, with nine victories. Manchester City, beaten 3-1 at Nottingham later in the day, stay second with 21 points, six fewer. Hull, 13th with 11 points, have not won in five matches. The Premier League now pauses for the international break and resumes in two weeks.

SNA Player of the Match: Martin Ødegaard

The Arsenal captain scored the only goal of the game and shaped his side's play for 90 minutes: 82 passes played and five passes that led to a shot, the highest total of the match. For the goal, he reacted quicker than anyone else after Tzolakis's save. SNA rating: 8.5.