Odegaard winner keeps Arsenal top amid VAR debate
Martin Odegaard's close-range strike secured a 1-0 victory for Arsenal over Hull at the Emirates, giving the Gunners a fourth successive Premier League win and ensuring they go into the international break as league leaders. The goal was bundled home from close range.
The result was Arsenal's 34th 1-0 win under Mikel Arteta, equalling their best start to a Premier League season under the Spaniard of 27 points after 10 games in 2022-23. No team has recorded more 1-0 victories since Arteta's appointment in 2019; Arsenal have won their past 10 home matches in all competitions, keeping eight clean sheets in that run. The contest was otherwise subdued but became notable for a contentious VAR review that denied Arsenal a first-half penalty.
Referee Farai Hallam went to the pitchside monitor to review a shirt pull by Nobel Mendy on Kai Havertz, and Havertz made clear to everyone, including VAR Michael Oliver, that a defender had held his shirt. Supporters had begun to cheer when Hallam described the foul to the crowd, only for the referee to rule Havertz offside and restart play with a free-kick to Hull. Had Arsenal not scored the 72nd-minute winner through their captain, the VAR decision would likely have dominated post-match discussion.
Earlier in the weekend other contentious VAR interventions had drawn scrutiny: Coventry were denied what appeared to be a clear penalty for a hair pull by James Tarkowski on Caleb Yirenkyi, and when Thierno Barry scored for Everton the ball appeared to come off his hand. In the Leeds v Tottenham match, Leeds appealed for a penalty for handball by Mateus Fernandes but replays showed the ball hit his shoulder; a potential red card for Jayden Bogle on Mathys Tel split opinion, and VAR Tony Harrington, after a four-minute check, judged the challenge did not have enough force. Tel was forced off injured and referee John Brooks did not show a yellow card on the field.
The situation at the Emirates raised a technical offside question about how fouls by defenders interact with offside offences: "After all, an offside player winning a penalty surely goes against the very logic of the law? If an offside player is running to the ball and is fouled before they attempt to play the ball or challenge an opponent, then the foul is considered to come before the offside offence." The law is intended to prevent defenders from fouling attackers simply because they are offside, but interpretation varies; past examples cited include an offside Harry Kane awarded a late penalty in February 2019 after being dragged down by Shkodran Mustafi, Newcastle being awarded a penalty when Adam Smith tugged back an offside Fabian Schar two years ago, and Brentford's Dango Ouattara having a spot-kick ruled out last December because he was judged offside. The Havertz incident was likened to the Schar case, and officials also consider whether an attacker could become involved from a second phase; with Havertz judged the only attacker who had any chance of involvement, VAR determined offside was the fair outcome. "Confused? You've got every right to be."
Arsenal still have struggles in attack despite their league position: they are the lowest scorers among the teams in the top four while possessing what the report describes as the best defence in the league and arguably Europe. They have not scored more than twice in a league game since the opening day, when they netted three against Coventry. The squad is missing Bukayo Saka with a quadricep injury; on the right there has been a consistent relationship between Ben White and Martin Odegaard, while Christos Tzolis has not returned to the same threat level after a hamstring injury sustained playing for Greece. Kai Havertz, 27, picked up a hamstring injury playing for Germany and, despite scoring the winner against Liverpool, has yet to reach his best form; Viktor Gyokeres is described as firmly second choice this season, Arteta is "still working out how to get the best out of the maverick Eberechi Eze," and Noni Madueke is working to fill the gap left by Saka.
Asked about the frequency of single-goal wins, Arteta said: "To be more efficient," was the answer the Gunners boss gave. "We are one against one against the keeper. That's happened twice today. "There is a penalty there, there is another situation inside the box where the ball is bouncing. So many shots that have been deflected, blocked. We need to find ways to be more efficient, sometimes even more pragmatic. "Sometimes my feeling is that we are trying to score a perfect goal against these low blocks. We need to be much more chaotic than that, and that's it. And open, I think, score much earlier because obviously that's going to change the course of the game."
Arsenal have won nine of their 10 league games so far this season. And if they manage to keep up that rate of winning, the Gunners will likely defend their Premier League crown and win back-to-back titles for the first time in 100 years.
