Mikel Arteta rather aptly summed up Arsenal’s 1-0 victory over Hull City when he described Martin Odegaard’s winner as “not beautiful but effective”.
Arteta needed a captain’s goal from Odegaard to ensure the Gunners head into the international break with a healthy lead at the top of the Premier League, after eventually breaking down a well-organised City side that had chances of their own at the Emirates.
Odegaard struck with 18 minutes of a tight encounter remaining, tucking in the rebound after Tigers keeper Konstantinos Tzolakis could only parry Noni Madueke’s drive, to make it seven home wins on the spin for the champions.
I’m delighted with the win because to go to the international break after winning is one of the best things for a coach or for a player,” said Gunners boss Arteta.
“I think regarding the performance, we were the better team. I think we had enough chances and situations to make the scoreline much bigger. We weren’t efficient enough to do that, and then we have to rely on generating volume, generating a lot of situations in and around the box until we are able to break them down.
“This is exactly how we won the game, and Martin, the way he scores, is not the most beautiful one but the most effective one, which is a simple shot and then following the next action, and that was enough today to win again.”
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The Norwegian’s fifth goal of the season also took the spotlight away from a quite bizarre VAR decision. Play was stopped shortly before half-time for a penalty check, for a shirt-pull on Kai Havertz by Nobel Mendy.
It was nowhere near the ball, but was otherwise similar to the tug Jurrien Timber gave Liverpool’s Alexander Isak last weekend, which went unpunished – only this time Havertz went down.
After a break in play, referee Farai Hallam was sent to the monitor and duly announced that Mendy had indeed fouled Havertz, to a huge cheer from the home support. However, he then added that Havertz was actually offside, and awarded a free-kick to the Tigers instead, which caught everybody by surprise.
Yet Havertz was neither attempting to play the ball nor challenging an opponent for the ball, which he would need to be in order to be deemed offside, so the laws state the foul should take precedence.
BBC pundit Dion Dublin was baffled, saying “it’s clear as mud,” while former Premier League referee Darren Cann said “more consistency is required to deal with this complex and ambiguous law”. On Sky Sports, ex-ref Mike Dean felt it should have been a penalty.
Arteta said of the incident: “I was surprised because when they sent the referee to the monitor, the bench was telling me it was a clear penalty, that he’s pulling him.
“I heard now that they decided not to because the starting position of Kai meant he was offside, so I don’t know what the interpretation is. I’m sure they will make that clear so we can understand it.”
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