Arsenal 1-0 Hull City: Martin Ødegaard's late strike extends the lead at the top

Arsenal needed patience more than anything else to beat Hull City 1-0 at the Emirates. Martin Ødegaard broke the deadlock in the 72nd minute, and it proved to be the only goal of an afternoon in which the home side had by far the better of almost every statistic without finding the net until well into the second half.

Arsenal held 66.9% of the possession and put 21 shots in at the Hull goal, ten of them on target, against a visiting side that managed seven shots in total and two on target across the ninety minutes. Hull's resistance held until Ødegaard's finish, after which there was no way back for a team that had spent most of the game defending deep inside its own half.

Five bookings, one side

The afternoon's discipline told its own story. Hull City picked up five yellow cards — Lewie Coyle in the 34th minute, Lucas Gourna-Douath in the 48th, Brooke Norton-Cuffy in the 61st, Elliot Stroud in the 75th and Nobel Mendy in the 87th — roughly one every quarter of an hour from the midpoint of the first half onward. Arsenal finished the match without a single caution of their own, a reflection of a side that spent the afternoon in control of the ball rather than chasing it.

Match facts

• 72' — Martin Ødegaard (Arsenal)
• Yellow cards: Lewie Coyle (34'), Lucas Gourna-Douath (48'), Brooke Norton-Cuffy (61'), Elliot Stroud (75') and Nobel Mendy (87'), all for Hull City

Line-ups

• Arsenal (4-2-3-1): David Raya; Gabriel Magalhães, Ezri Konsa, Riccardo Calafiori, Jurriën Timber; Martin Ødegaard, Declan Rice, Bruno Guimarães, Kai Havertz, Christos Tzolis, Noni Madueke. Subs used: Viktor Gyökeres, Mikel Merino, Martín Zubimendi, Piero Hincapié, Eberechi Eze
• Hull City (5-3-2): Konstantinos Tzolakis; John Egan, Nobel Mendy, Semi Ajayi, Elliot Stroud, Lewie Coyle; Lucas Gourna-Douath, Regan Slater, Tim Iroegbunam; Oliver McBurnie, Mohamed-Ali Cho. Subs used: Ryan Giles, Lucas Herrington, Christos Mouzakitis, Joe Gelhardt, Brooke Norton-Cuffy

Arsenal's unbeaten run keeps growing

Arsenal's only defeat of the season remains the 0-3 loss away at Brighton & Hove Albion back in Matchweek 5. Saturday's win stretches their unbeaten run in all competitions to eight matches since then — six wins and a draw in the Premier League plus a 2-1 Champions League win away at Slavia Prague in midweek — the sort of run that has carried them from second place to top of the table over the last two months.

Hull City's afternoon fits a pattern of its own. According to this site's own archive, the Tigers have not won since beating Coventry City 1-0 away back in Matchweek 2, their last five league matches producing three draws and two defeats, six goals scored and eight conceded in that stretch. Saturday's performance — plenty of defending, next to nothing created at the other end — was the sharpest version yet of a side that is struggling to turn promotion-season energy into points against the division's better teams.

What's next

Arsenal had gone into the weekend top of the Premier League with 24 points from nine games; Saturday's win takes them to 27 points from ten, extending their advantage at the summit. Hull City had sat 11th with 11 points from nine games; the defeat leaves them on 11 points from ten, their push up the table stalling just as it looked to be building momentum in October.