1-0 to the Arsenal. Again.

1-0 to the Arsenal. Again. Seventy-two minutes. That's how long Hull City held out at the Emirates on Saturday, and when the breakthrough finally came it wasn't pretty. Noni Madueke's shot was saved by Konstantinos Tzolakis, the ball ran loose, and Martin Ødegaard got there first to dink it over the goalkeeper. Arsenal 1, Hull City 0. It was Arsenal's 34th 1-0 Premier League win under Mikel Arteta — more than any other side has managed since he took charge in December 2019. And it came on a day when Manchester City lost to Nottingham Forest, which means Arsenal go into the international break six points clear at the top. Twenty-seven points from ten games. Nine wins, one defeat. Only four sides in Premier League history have had more at this stage. So the table looks wonderful. The performance that got them there was another reminder of the problem that's been following this side since the City Ground. The Same Puzzle, a Different Opponent Hull came to the Emirates with a plan, and it wasn't complicated. Sit deep, stay compact, defend the box and take your chances on the break. Arsenal had 67% of the ball in the first half and 20 touches in Hull's box to their five. They had eight shots to Hull's six. They went in at half-time with nothing to show for it. The chances weren't absent this time — that's the difference from Forest. On five minutes, Ezri Konsa flicked a Madueke cross to the far post and Gabriel couldn't quite nudge it over the line. Declan Rice fired narrowly wide from the edge of the box. Christos Tzolis had openings and didn't take them. And on 40 minutes, Kai Havertz went clean through on goal, tried to cut back onto his left foot, and lost the ball. That was the one that should have broken the game open. Arteta didn't dress it up afterwards. His diagnosis was that Arsenal are trying to walk the ball into the net against packed defences. In his words, "we are trying to score a perfect goal against these low blocks." He wants his side to be more chaotic, more pragmatic, and to get the first goal earlier so the opponent has to come out. That's the right diagnosis, and it's the same one this series reached after Forest in October. Arsenal's possession game is built to control matches. Against a side that hands them control and refuses to open up, the build-up gets too slow, too predictable, and too reliant on the final pass being perfect. Arteta said himself that his team were one-on-one with the goalkeeper twice and didn't score. A title-winning side doesn't need to make the perfect chance. It needs to finish the good ones. The difference from the City Ground is that this time the chances were there. Volume in and around the box is the thing Arteta keeps asking for, and against Hull Arsenal got it. That's progress, of a sort. The finishing hasn't caught up. The Penalty That Wasn't The biggest talking point came just before half-time, and Arsenal had every right to be furious about it. Havertz was making a run in the box when Hull's Nobel Mendy grabbed his shirt and held on. VAR sent referee Farai Hallam to the monitor, and the Emirates expected a penalty. Instead, Hallam agreed Havertz had been fouled — and then gave Hull a free-kick, because Havertz had started his run from an offside position. The problem is the law. Under the Premier League's rules, a player in an offside position hasn't committed an offence until he challenges for the ball. Havertz hadn't. He was being held before he got the chance. Former referee Mike Dean said exactly that on Soccer Saturday: the shirt pull came first, so the foul should have taken precedence. In Dean's words: "It should have been a restart with a penalty, not an offside." Arteta said he was confused, because his staff had told him it was a clear penalty the moment Hallam was sent to the screen. By the time he spoke, nobody had explained the decision. It didn't cost Arsenal the game, but it might have changed the whole shape of it. A goal just before half-time against a deep block, and the second half is played on Arsenal's terms instead of Hull's. Madueke: From Impact Sub to the Man Who Makes Things Happen If there was one Arsenal player who didn't accept the slow tempo, it was Madueke. Back in October, he came off the bench at the City Ground and won the game with a deflected shot from the left — the one moment of directness in an afternoon of sideways passing. Against Hull he started, and he was Arsenal's most dangerous attacker from the first minute. He supplied the cross for that early Gabriel chance. He forced a save from Tzolakis at his near post just before the hour. And it was his shot that Tzolakis could only parry for Ødegaard's winner. He should have had a goal of his own. On 87 minutes he went through one-on-one, tried to round the goalkeeper, was stopped, and Hull had to clear the loose ball off their line. But the overall picture is a player who has gone from fringe option to a genuine difference-maker in a matter of weeks. Arteta told the story afterwards. Madueke wasn't getting games before the first international break, so instead of going on holiday he went to Portugal to train with a coach and get himself in better condition. He came back sharp, started taking people on, and is now contributing goals and assists. Arteta called it a great example for the dressing room, and he's right. It also matters for the bigger question. On days like this, when the opposition won't give Arsenal any space, they need someone who will run at defenders and make something happen rather than wait for the perfect pass. Right now, Madueke is doing that as consistently as anyone in the squad. Finding a Way — Again Credit where it's due: this is now a habit, not an accident. Arsenal have won eight matches across all competitions this season by a single goal. They've won ten home games in a row in all competitions. And they keep doing it because the defence almost never gives anything away. This was a seventh clean sheet in ten Premier League games. Only three teams in the competition's history — Birmingham in 2003-04, Chelsea in 2004-05 and Manchester United in 2017-18 — have had more at this stage. It's now 444 minutes since Arsenal conceded in the league. Konsa was the standout. With William Saliba close to returning, there's going to be a real selection decision, and on this evidence Konsa won't make it easy. He won all seven of his duels, completed 51 of his 53 passes, and made a last-ditch block on Mohamed Ali-Cho when Hull broke through on the counter. Alongside Gabriel, he gave Hull almost nothing to work with. The one genuine scare came on 19 minutes, when Elliot Stroud tried a curling shot and David Raya had to dive full-stretch to keep it out. That was about it. Hull's manager Sergej Jakirovic praised his side's bravery in the defensive phase, and fairly so. But he also admitted they needed better and quicker decisions on the ball to hurt Arsenal, and they didn't manage it. Hull were missing their most creative player. Mohamed Belloumi has scored or assisted five of their eleven league goals this season and hasn't trained since the 2-2 draw with Ipswich. Without him, a team that defended well had no way of turning that into a threat at the other end. They can be proud of the effort. Effort was never going to be enough. Grind Now, Fix Later There's a version of this that's easy to celebrate. Six points clear. A week after winning at Anfield. Defensive numbers that put this side alongside some of the best in Premier League history. Wins like this are exactly what title defences are built on, and this squad is getting very good at them. But Arteta isn't celebrating, and neither should anyone else. He said afterwards that his side can still do much better, and the evidence agrees with him. Too many of these wins are relying on one moment, and the margin for error is thin. A deflection against Forest. A rebound against Hull. If one of those doesn't fall Arsenal's way, it's two points dropped instead of three won. The defence is doing its job. The attack needs to stop chasing the perfect goal and start taking the good ones. Next: Newcastle, Then City The international break could hardly be better timed. Arsenal won't play again until Saturday 21 November, when they travel to St James' Park. Newcastle away is never a comfortable afternoon, and it's exactly the kind of game where a side that can't kill teams off early gets punished. A week later, Manchester City come to the Emirates. If Arsenal arrive at that game still six points clear, they'll be in a position of real strength. If the lead has narrowed, the pressure changes completely. In between, Borussia Dortmund visit the Emirates in the Champions League on 24 November. That's three demanding games in eight days, with two of the toughest league fixtures in the calendar either side. Arsenal have shown they can grind out results against teams that sit deep. Newcastle and City won't sit deep. They'll press, they'll attack, and they'll leave space behind. For a side whose problem has been breaking down a wall, that might not be the worst thing.