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Arsenal vs Hull City… on paper, this should have been a non-contest. The Gunners lost only once in the Premier League while Hull City, despite a credible start to the season, are still looking for their first away win. Against the likes of Wigan two weeks ago, Hull was battered into submission by 5 goals without reply.

To ramp up the challenge, Arsenal’s youth team demolished Sheffield United 6-0 in a breathtaking display of attacking football midweek in the Carling Cup. With such prowess and deep reserves, a victory should never be in doubt, only the margin.

Arsene Wenger was also keen to put Hull quickly in their place. He made eleven changes to the victorious Carling Cup team, essentially fielding his first XI. Inflicting maximum damage was imperative to restoring respectability to the league standings, since by some mysterious twist of fate, Hull City happened to be only a few places adrift of Arsenal’s fourth spot in the Premier League table.

Arsenal did not disappoint as they came into the match firing on all cylinders. In the 15th minute, Emmanuel Adebayor had the ball in the net - only for referee Alan Wiley to disqualify the goal for a foul on McShane while rising to meet the header.

Hull barely heaved a sigh of relief before coming under pressure again as Theo Walcott advanced meanacingly. Fortunately, left-back Dawson came in with a brilliant tackle just as the England winger was about to fire a sorcher.

Hull City also had the assistant referee’s flag to thank, on at least three occasions, but as the minutes ticked away, full credit has to go to their resilient and disciplined defense as they held up well under Arsenal’s persistent attacks.

For the first half hour, Arsenal’s slick passing and movement allowed them an overwhelming possession as well as several glit-edged chances. Fabregas was a constant thorn for Hull City with his intelligent runs and defense-splitting passes. However, the fact that Arsenal were still empty-handed imbued Hull with confidence and increased the difficulties in breaching the defense.

Emmanuel Eboue fluffed an excellent chance with a deflected right-foot shot on the edge of the 18-yard box, while Michael Turner thwarted Adebayor with yet another well-timed challenge. Arsenal finally calmed their frayed nerves when Walcott’s cross bounced off Adebayor into the path of Fabregas, whose effort was bundled over the goal-line by a desperate McShane.

The Gunners continued to surge forward in numbers, trying hard to press home their one-goal advantage. Adebayor and Robin van Persie could have wrapped up the match effortlessly and headed for an early shower but both left their scoring boots at home.

Arsenal finally paid for their profligacy when Hull drew level in the 61st minute. Geovanni cleverly avoided a challenge before drifting into the box and smashing a sensational shot from 25 yards into the top corner of Manuel Almunia’s net.

It was the Brazilian’s first goal for Hull since joining in the summer from Manchester City, and boy, is it one of the most important of his career. Cousin put the icing on the cake when he rose majestically above Arsenal’s defenders to head Dawson’s corner into the net.

The countdown was on and Arsene Wenger sprung into action. With 25 minutes left to share the spoils, Wenger switched to an attacking 4-2-4 formation, with Nicklas Bendtner replacing Eboue and Carlos Vela on for Walcott.

Arsenal’s attacking instinct was sharpened and in the 80th minute, Van Persie’s strike missed Myhill’s right-hand post by a whisker. Gallas clattered the crossbar with a powerful header in the final five minutes, and when Vela miscued the rebound, you can sense that a famous upset is on the way.

Much to the consternation of Hull City, Arsenal was given an extended lifeline with four minutes of injury time. Goalkeeper Myhill turned hero of the moment by producing an outstanding parry to deny Fabregas’s powerful 20-yard strike and earn Hull their first victory against Arsenal.

With this result, Hull City climbed to sixth spot in the Premier League and if they continue to churn out such performances, they could turn out to be the surprise package of this season. Manager Phil Brown made two crucial changes to the team that drew 2-2 with Everton last week, recalling midfielders George Boateng and Geovanni who were instrumental in the victory.

Even if Hull missed out on a Uefa Cup qualification spot at the end of the season, they have already written a chapter in their history for claiming Arsenal’s scalp. As it is, their fairy tale involves another three points to match Derby’s 11 points from the whole of the last campaign. That will be suffcient to prove that Championship play-off winners are not in the Premier League to make up the numbers.

Judging by the deathly silence that descended on Emirates Stadium at the final whistle, Arsenal fans were shell-shocked that their mighty team has fallen, twice already this season. Once again, the aura of invincibility for Arsenal was pierced and at their own home ground, to boot. In all fairness, Arsenal were far superior technically but were let down by wasteful finishing.

Hull deserve full points for their commitment. Well, you simply have to, against a world class team like Arsenal. So long as you play harder or even take the game to the Gunners through a physical approach, it is a level playing field. Indeed, Hull City fought tooth and nail and refuse to concede ground in defense; in the end, they were rewarded for their efforts.

Wenger said: “It’s a good lesson for us because the commitment was on their side.
We know from these kind of games that when your attitude from the start is not good enough you risk losing the game.

“I think we had 25 crosses today, their keeper and defenders did a great job. After we were 1-0 up and that’s when we were a bit careless. Instead of pushing on and scoring a second goal, we gave too much room to Hull and in the end we were caught.”

That is about as frank an assessment you can get from Wenger and you can sense his displeasure even as he refuses to dwell on individual performances. The consequences of this defeat is not dire yet but Arsenal may just rue this opportunity to top the table and consolidate their position.

I believe Wenger is depressed with the way his team conceded soft corners which are proving to be a major chinks in Arsenal’s armor. Training cannot compensate for the concentration, positioning and willingness to fight for every loose ball.

Wenger was right to pinpoint his players on ball-watching and slipshod defending, saying: “You can work for hours on the training ground but if you don’t attack the ball on the day of the game it will cost you.”

With plenty of preparation to be done after this defeat, nobody was in the mood to celebrate Wenger’s 12 year anniversary of being in charge. A highly competitive match against Porto in the Champions League awaits Arsenal on Tuesday. Porto cannot be underestimated after defeating Fenerbahce handily.

In the Champions League, I believe the Gunners will not take things easy but they have to get over their disappointment and rebuild their confidence. They had already paid the price for complacency.

This defeat should serve only as a wake-up call and not throw the entire squad into disarray or conflicts. Wenger is an old hand in rallying his troops so Porto has to get ready for a backlash.

There is no doubt this young team of Gunners is bustling with talents but to lay their hands on the long-awaited Premier League and the ever-elusive Champions League, they have to draw upon mental strength rather than technical capabilities. While the young Turks may be inconsistent now, I believe in another season or so, they will be a fearful proposition.

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