The headlines say that Arsenal got goals from Denilson, Eduardo da Silva and Abou Diaby and with the win Arsenal moved ahead of Aston Villa into third on goal difference, and will move past Manchester United into second place when they win their game in hand.
It took Arsenal until deep in stoppage time to get the breakthrough they were looking for Referee Steve Bennett awarded Arsenal a free-kick 25 yards from goal for a foul on Diaby (yes it was a generous decision) and Denilson stepped up an curled a fantastic free-kick into the left corner beyond the diving Boaz Myhill.
Getting a goal right before half-time was a big boost to Arsenal and was significant according to Arsene Wenger:
“I believe what was the turning point was that we scored a goal just before half time and they had to come out in the second half. In the first half they played in their half and were well organised and closed us down. We had to respond physically and we had really a good physical response today.”
Steve Bennett must have looked at the Diaby foul at half-time as 4 minutes into the second half he gave Hull a make-up call. Somehow Silvestre was adjudged to have hauled down Fagan as they tussled for a left-wing cross. It is something you see all the time but Bennett pointed to the penalty spot. Geovanni’s slow run-up smacked of placement over power but Almunia guessed correctly. He dived to his right to pull off a fine save then Stephen Hunt nodded the rebound wide.
Arsenal then killed the game off in the 59th minute when some great Arsenal passing released Diaby who slid a low cross in front of goal for Eduardo to tap in from a yard out. That second goal killed Hull’s resistance and with 10 minutes left in the game Diaby made it three. He exchanged passes with Song and Arshavin then held off his marker before firing home.
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger was happy with the win saying:
“We had to fight. We had problems a little bit to start because we left a lot of physical strength in our last two games at Liverpool and Burnley on Wednesday night and it took us some time to get into the game and to find the pace. In the first half we didn’t look very fresh but we got in front and in the second half I believe even if it was a turning point with the penalty they missed, to me the penalty looked really, really harsh and we scored straight away a second goal and we had plenty of chances after.”
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