The Arsenal players were clearly keen to get off to a good start after the disappointment of last week, kmowing that the home crowd could do with some encouragement and also aware that the in form visitors Hull City would be looking to exploit any nerves or poor play from us.
It nearly paid instant dividends as well, with Ozil, Alexis, Walcott and Iwobi combining to cause some havoc and hesitation in the Hull back line, but their goal survived and the game became more even as the tigers found their feet.
Arsenal were looking good at times and we created good chances but an actual goal looked elusive and the crowd grew more restless. THankfully the breakthrough came before halftime and before the nerves could really get a grip. There was some fortune to the finish as it came off the hand of our Chilean striker but there was no suggestion it was deliberate and Arsenal had upped our game in general before that and put real pressure on Hull’s defence.
The visitors had created some good opportunities themselves and did so again after the break, but without any completely scary momentsd for us, although Arsenal were not exactly banging the door down for a second. And with around 20 minutes left Wenger shored up the side a bit by replacing Walcott with Elneny.
Inevitably with just a one goal lead and with the respective feelinghs in the teams we ended up deeper and deeper towards the end of the game and were left hanging on a bit instead of pushing for a second but after seeing off some pressure and a succession of corners we managed to break through, Ozil and Alexis who crossed for Lucas to head in, but his header hit the arm of Clucas who was sent off.
Alexis took the penalty and scored to secure the points and put some gloss on the scoreline. It was not the best Arsenal performance you will ever see but it was the result that mattered and we got back to winning ways.
Bob.