Odegaard's 72nd-minute rebound sends Arsenal past Hull 1-0 and keeps them top

Late rebound settles a tight match

Arsenal beat Hull City 1-0 at the Emirates Stadium on 7 November 2026, with Martin Odegaard scoring the only goal in the 72nd minute. The hosts had struggled to break Hull down for most of the afternoon. The decisive moment came after Noni Madueke's shot was saved by Konstantinos Tzolakis, leaving Odegaard to tap in the rebound. It was his fifth goal of the season and it arrived with 18 minutes left, extending Arsenal's run to seven successive home league wins. Late on, Madueke went through and was tackled by Tzolakis, and the ball ricocheted off Hull's Nobel Mendy before Brooke Norton-Cuffy cleared it off the line.

A disputed penalty check before half-time

Arsenal had been denied a penalty just before half-time, when Kai Havertz went down after a shirt pull by Nobel Mendy in the box. Referee Farai Hallam went to the monitor, confirmed the foul, then ruled Havertz offside and awarded Hull a free kick. RTE argued that Havertz was neither playing the ball nor challenging an opponent for it, which the offside law requires, so the foul should have taken precedence. Arsenal had escaped a similar shirt-pull decision at Anfield against Liverpool about a week before this match, when Jurrien Timber's tug on Alexander Isak went unpunished.

Table position and the run of results

The win was Arsenal's fifth league victory in a row, and the only time they have dropped points this season was a 3-0 defeat by Brighton in September. The club now have 27 points from their opening 10 games, matching their record tally, and Mikel Arteta's side lead the table by six points. Manchester City face Nottingham Forest on 7 November at 17:30 GMT, so the gap could narrow later that day. Arsenal go into the international break with that lead, and Enzo Maresca's side return to league action after the break.

How the players were rated

BBC gave Odegaard 8 out of 10, the highest mark among the Arsenal players, and rated Havertz 4, the lowest. Evening Standard also gave Odegaard 8 and rated Madueke and Timber 7 each. Madueke's rating reflected his constant threat down the right in the first half, while Tzolakis earned a 7 from BBC for pushing a shot into a dangerous area that led to the goal. BBC noted that Hull's Semi Ajayi came off with an injury.