Hull City 1-3 Arsenal

Another weekend, another pulse-raising, sweat-inducing Arsenal victory. This game was much, much, closer than the misleading 3-1 victory. But at the end of the day, with a team short of a lot of creative players, it is three points in the bank.

Despite Hull struggling with form, it was obvious that another tough game would be in store for the Gunners, and the first 20 minutes delivered. Nothing seemed to be working, and the lack of a creative presence was felt once again. Fortunately, Van Persie continued his sizzling form — imagine how lost this season would be if he was his typical unfit self — setting up Adebayor with a lovely corner kick in the 26th minute. The Togonator obliged with a looping header that easily beat Boaz Myhill for the 1-0 lead. Right before that, the Dutchman sent a vicious free kick on frame that Myhill did well to parry over the bar.

The goal did well to energize the players and it should have been 2-0 with Eboue set up alone at the edge of the box. Unfortunately he could do nothing more than scuff the shot wide of the net. A 2-0 lead could have buried Hull, but as it was things were left at 1-0 heading into the half. At that point it seemed like a well-established lead, but when Arsenal is playing, you know that conceding a goal is likely. The dream of a shutout lasted until the 66th minute, when Gael Clichy decided that he’d rather be a spectator rather than a defender, lazily lifting a leg to deflect Bernard Mendy’s cross onto the head of Daniel Cousin. 1-1. At that point, with Chelsea, Man United and Aston Villa all winning today, a draw would leave Arsenal high and dry, looking shaky even for that Champions League spot — I know, a bit of an overreaction, but one that can easily be justified.

Fortunately for the Arsenal (and for Clichy), RvP kept up his hard work at the front. He drew the attention of three Hull defenders in the 82nd minute, spotted Samir Nasri wide open on the left hand side, and the Frenchman slid his shot into the net at the far post, and providing a sigh of relief to Gunners fans everywhere. A 3-1 result put the game out of reach when Van Persie collected a pass — and he was way offside — dribbled into the area and set up substitute Nicklas Bendtner to seal the three points.

These Arsenal games are almost stress-inducing for me — I expect them to take a lead, squander it, fight for ages, and of late, come away with a win. Yesterday’s victory not only keeps the team on pace with the rest, but it also allows confidence to grow in key players. Bendtner, for example, nets another goal, and should have had a second that rattled Hull City’s post in the dying seconds of the match. By the way, I can’t explain how I came across this, but typing in Bendtner is useless in Google yields 2,070 results. Fun fact for the day. In all seriousness though, the Dane only just turned 21, and if he can keep providing a strong attack off the bench, he will hopefully no longer be as useless. Keep the goals rolling, Nick.

Another key player to gain confidence? Adebayor. The big striker has struggled this season, and instead of missing heaps of chances and scoring goals in bunches, he’s only doing the former. The goal he scored today will give him something to build on, and he’ll hopefully get his groove back on.

The other two players — Nasri and Van Persie — are the two who this season hinges on as the season progresses (Note: this is assuming no transfer action is taken, which hopefully will prove false). Van Persie was a monster today, and his play has been absolutely stellar all season. He’s scored goals in big games (Chelsea, Liverpool) and had a hand in all three goals. Because this team has proven that it can’t defend well, scoring goals in bunches is vital, and he’ll be key as the season continues. Nasri is our only creative spark playing consistently out of the midfield. Diaby put in a much more solid performance against Hull, but strikes me as a frustrating waste of talent sometimes. I don’t know what it is about him, but he seems lazy on the pitch and reliant on fancy footwork to beat opponents. His compatriot Nasri continues to impress, and his cool finish at the far post today continues what has been a solid debut season for the Gunners. Keep in mind that this kid is only 20, and hopefully he’ll be a strong complement to Cesc and Theo for years to come. However, focusing on the here and now, Nasri’s influence on the left/center plays a vital role in the kind of offense this team trots out there. If he’s off his game, it is hard indeed to see where any kind of offensive spark would come from.