Martin Odegaard's goal was decisive as a below-par Arsenal side beat Hull City 1-0 to strengthen their position at the top of the Premier League on Saturday.
Arsenal 1-0 Hull City: Odegaard clinches hard-earned victory for Premier League champions
Arsenal were put through their paces by Hull City, but their captain stepped up to ensure they will remain top for the international break.
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, though 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 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 though 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 are now winless in eight Premier League games following their bright start to 2026-27.
1-0 to the Arsenal (again)
Arsenal have now kept seven clean sheets in their first 10 Premier League games this season, with only three teams ever managing more shutouts by this stage of a campaign.
They have also gone four Premier League games without conceding, their longest run of clean sheets in the competition since a five-match streak between December 26, 2005 and January 14, 2006.
Arteta's backline was sturdy again on Saturday, with Hull only racking up 0.34 expected goals (xG) from seven attempts, despite carving out a few promising counter-attacking opportunities.
And, as is so often the case, that defensive work proved crucial as Arsenal were less than sparkling in attack, only putting up 1.08 xG from 21 attempts, 14 of which came from inside the area.
Odegaard was in the right place at the right time to score their only goal, which was his third in the Premier League this season, all of which have come at the Emirates – he has only netted more home goals in a single campaign in 2022-23 (six).
And the Norway international also has 18 goals involvements in his last 22 Premier League games against promoted teams, scoring 12 and teeing up six.
