Odegaard strike seals hard-earned Arsenal victory
Martin Odegaard's goal was decisive as a below-par Arsenal side beat Hull City 1-0 to strengthen its position at the top of the Premier League.
The Gunners' victory took them six points clear of Manchester City at the summit, at least temporarily, ahead of Enzo Maresca's side facing Nottingham Forest, but Mikel Arteta's men did not have things all their own way.
Konstantinos Tzolakis and his Hull backline were excellent until the 72nd minute, when the Tigers' goalkeeper spilled a Noni Madueke effort and Odegaard pounced to score the only goal of the contest.
Arsenal struggled to make any attacking headway throughout the first half, with Sergej Jakirovic's visitors creating the better chances.
John Egan saw an early header hit the side netting, while David Raya had to get down to parry an angled attempt from Elliot Stroud. Tim Iroegbunam looked primed to fire home on the rebound from that latter chance, but Declan Rice's recovery challenge put him off.
At the other end, Rice saw a long-range strike fizz wide of the post and sent a downward header straight into the gloves of Tzolakis, either side of a bizarre video assistan referee (VAR) review.
Referee Farai Hallam was sent to the monitor to review a possible penalty when Nobel Mendy pulled Kai Havertz's shirt inside the area, but replays showed the Germany international was clearly offside, much to the dismay of the home fans.
Things did not initially improve for Arsenal in the second half, with Ezri Konsa forced to make a last-ditch lunge on Mohamed-Ali Cho and Lucas Gourna-Douath firing straight at Raya from a tight angle.
Christos Tzolis did not get enough bend on his attempt to beat his compatriot Tzolakis, but the Hull goalkeeper was picking the ball out of his net soon afterwards.
The Greek could only push Madueke's drive as far as Odegaard, and although he also got a touch on the Arsenal captain's follow-up effort, he could not stop it from squirming past him.
Arsenal should have added a second goal when Madueke danced around Tzolakis, only for Brooke Norton-Cuffy to hack off the line, but the Tigers were unable to make that reprieve count late on.
The result ensures Arsenal will remain top of the table throughout the international break, while Hull is now winless in eight Premier League games after its bright start to 2026-2027.
It was not a comfortable afternoon for Arteta as his side had 21 goal attempts but only converted once.
"To be more efficient," Arteta said when asked what his side need to do to win by healthier margins.
"We are one against one against the keeper. That's happened twice today. There is a penalty there, there is another situation inside the box where the ball is bouncing. So many shots that have been deflected, blocked.
"We need to find ways to be more efficient, sometimes even more pragmatic.
"We need to be much more chaotic than that, and that's it. And open, I think, score much earlier because obviously that's going to change the course of the game."
Arsenal is six points clear of stuttering Manchester City and looks to be an overwhelming favourite for back-to-back titles.
"I think it is time to praise my players. What they have done not only today but after the international break is remarkable because of the games," Arteta said.
"We are not in a really strong position. We know that we can improve in a lot of areas and we'll analyse in this break how we're going to do that. And I will know what to expect afterwards because it's going to be super difficult."
Martin Ødegaard
Arsenal FC
