Ødegaard Breaks Hull's Resistance as Arsenal Stay Six Points Clear With 1-0 Win

For 72 minutes it looked like one of those days. The champions had the ball, the territory and the crowd, and Hull City had everything else — a packed defence, a goalkeeper in inspired form, and the growing belief that they could walk out of the Emirates with something no one had given them a chance of getting. Then Martin Ødegaard did what captains are supposed to do. Noni Madueke cut in from the right and drove another low shot at goal. Konstantinos Tzolakis got a hand to it, as he had all afternoon, but this time the ball squirmed back into the danger area instead of away from it. Ødegaard was already moving. He reached the loose ball first and guided a calm right-footed finish past the Hull goalkeeper, and the relief that rolled around the Emirates told you everything about the 71 minutes that had come before it. Arsenal had dominated possession from the start, but Hull, newly promoted and widely written off before the season began, refused to be overawed. They sat deep, stayed organised, and when Arsenal did find a way through, Tzolakis was there. The Greek goalkeeper's afternoon had already included a string of saves by the time Madueke tested him once too often. There was a moment just before half-time when it felt as if the afternoon might turn properly sour for the home side. Kai Havertz went down in the box and referee Farai Hallam pointed to the spot, only for the decision to be overturned after Havertz was judged offside in the build-up. The groan that went up was the loudest sound the home crowd had made all half, and for a while after the break it genuinely felt like it could be one of those afternoons — the kind champions look back on in May and wince. Mikel Arteta had rotated heavily, making six changes from the side that won 2-1 at Slavia Prague in midweek, and as the second half wore on he reached for his bench. Viktor Gyokeres and Mikel Merino came on for Havertz and Declan Rice with under half an hour left, and the pressure, which had never really gone away, finally found its crack. The goal was Ødegaard's fifth of the season, and his first since a run of four in five games between August and September. It carried a particular sweetness for the Norwegian, who spent much of last season watching from the sidelines with injury while his teammates carried the title race without him. He lifted the trophy at Selhurst Park in May, but for long stretches he had felt like a passenger. This season looks like a different story. Hull, to their credit, did not fold after going behind. They pushed forward and forced Arsenal to defend their lead, and they nearly had their reward in the 87th minute — or rather, they nearly stopped Arsenal having another. Madueke was played clean through, rounded Tzolakis, and looked certain to score, only for the goalkeeper to get a foot to the ball and Brooke Norton-Cuffy to race back and clear off the line. The win is Arsenal's ninth in ten league matches, and it sends them into the international break six points clear at the top, with Manchester City still to play Nottingham Forest later on Saturday. It was not pretty. But champions are not judged only on the afternoons when everything flows. Sometimes they are judged on the ones when nothing does — and they win anyway.