Hull City 1 Arsenal 3: ARSENE WENGER would never admit to Route One. Route 23 is more Arsenal's style, preferably with everyone getting a touch or three on the way to goal. But Phil Brown, his opposite number at Hull City, dared to whisper the sacrilege: "Their game plan was Route One."
He did wrap it in respect, though. “Normally they play short and fluent,” he said first. “It was a good plan, as it won,” he added.
There was an element of truth in that, though none of Arsenal’s goals came from a direct approach. Emmanuel Adebayor got higher than Michael Turner to head in Robin van Persie’s corner, with Boaz Myhill also at fault, for the first. The others, both in the last 10 minutes, followed slick work, short and fluent, by van Persie and substitute Nicklas Bendtner. Arsenal have scored 11 goals in the last 10 minutes.
For the second Saturday running Bendtner turned a likely draw into victory after replacing Emmanuel Eboue for the final 20 minutes or so. The previous week he scored the only goal to beat Bolton. On Saturday he at once produced threat and thrust, wide on the right, where Eboue was testing the boo threshold of Arsenal’s fans. The Dane might feel aggrieved if he does not get a start soon.
Wenger did not deny re-routing, but the loss of Theo Walcott’s tearaway speed on the wing and the precision linking of Cesc Fabregas has led to a different deployment and greater readiness to get the ball quickly forward. van Persie, playing deeper off Adebayor, kept the side true to type with his slippery skills.
For the moment, Wenger is conducting a holding operation, pragmatic without forsaking principle, and it is holding well. If he was looking for people to step up to the plate – porcelain of course – no one did it with greater determination than van Persie.
“When they scored to make it 1-1 I was a bit worried,” the Dutchman said. “It was tough for us to come back.”
Wenger was delighted with the team’s “resilience”, though he cannot have enjoyed the lack of concentration that made it a matter of necessity. Gael Clichy backed off Bernard Mendy, who had long since reduced him to uncertainty, as he brought down a long pass, then Kolo Toure and Johan Djourou let Daniel Cousin dart between them to force in the cross.
Wenger talked of “consistency” rather than “titles” and, without achieving perfect rhythms, he is getting it – three wins to follow three draws in an unbeaten run of eight games. “If we drop points, it makes headlines that we are out of the race, but that is not the reality,” he said. “I believe there are still surprises in this division. Nobody is flying at the moment.”
Hull matched Arsenal for half an hour after the interval when they gave Cousin more support without relaxing their stranglehold at the back that gave Arsenal little sight of goal. The debutant Kevin Kilbane, speaking from survival experience at Wigan, said: “We’ve got to be up and at teams.” They will come through if they play like this.
Kilbane noted: “Arsenal seem to like the physical battle now and be prepared to go direct, like Man United and Chelsea.”
Guardian Service
