Martin Odegaard spares Arsenal’s blushes in tough battle with Hull

Arsenal's Martin Odegaard celebrates scoring the winner. 

Premier League: Arsenal 1 Hull City 0

Arsenal needed a captain’s goal from Martin Odegaard to see off Hull 1-0 and ensure they head into the international break with a healthy lead at the top of the Premier League.

Odegaard struck with 18 minutes of a tight encounter left to make it seven home wins on the spin for the champions.

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.

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 Hull instead.

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. You’re now talking about when the ball is struck.

“They’re saying he makes the run first and he would have been offside if he hadn’t have been pulled.

“Because he’s been pulled, there’s no offside. You’re talking split seconds.” 

Arsenal, who had pulled off an impressive 1-0 win at Anfield last weekend, were far from their fluent best against well-organised Hull.

They were almost caught cold inside two minutes when the Tigers won a corner which John Egan headed into the side-netting.

The hosts’ first chance came the way of centre-half Gabriel Magalhaes, whose glancing header from Noni Madueke’s cross flew just wide.

Arsenal should have taken the lead in the 39th minute when Timber reached the byline and cut the ball back, but Christos Tzolis blazed his first-time shot high over the top.

After the VAR fuss had died down, Arsenal went close again in first-half stoppage time, with Declan Rice heading Madueke’s cross straight at Tzolakis.

After the break Hull keeper Konstantinos Tzolakis kept out Madueke’s shot with his legs and held a curler from Greece team-mate Tzolis.

The breakthrough arrived in the 72nd minute when Tzolakis could only parry Madueke’s drive and Odegaard reacted quickest to tuck in the rebound.

The Gunners almost had a second when Madueke rounded Tzolakis and the ball rolled towards goal, but Brooke Norton-Cuffy cleared from under the crossbar.