Another masterclass in passing and movement by Santi Cazorla and two more goals from Alexis Sánchez were sufficient to ensure an imperious Arsenal headed back to London confident of returning to the Champions League next season.The gap in goal difference is such that it is vitually impossible for fifth-placed Liverpool to catch Arsène Wenger’s team now but, unfortunately for Steve Bruce, the possibility of Hull dropping into the Championship remains far from theoretical.
Third-from-bottom Sunderland are only a point behind his 17th-placed side, awkward fixtures lie ahead and the momentum gained during a recent mini-rival could be in danger of fizzling out.
In mitigation Bruce did not exaggerate when he described Arsenal’s football as “fabulous”. Fantastically fluid with constantly interchanging positional rotation and devastatingly rapid counter-attacks, Wenger’s side would have beaten many better teams than Hull.
“When Arsenal play like that they’re as good as anyone in Europe,” said Bruce. “It was one of those difficult evenings – and a truly awful 15 minutes before half-time – for us. We didn’t match our standard of the last couple of games and we didn’t have any luck. Two of the goals were cruel deflections and, if you chase the game, Arsenal can really open you up.”
Arsenal offered a foretaste of dominance to come by, rather rudely, hogging possession for the entire opening two minutes. A nonchalant backheel from the impressive Aaron Ramsey underlined this early superiority but then Jake Livermore crunched in on Sánchez with a wince-inducing challenge and Hull were up and running.
When James Chester hoisted a long dropping ball out of defence Dame N’Doye rushed to meet it, forcing David Ospina to race off his line and head clear from the edge of his box.
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As Arsenal learnt during last season’s FA Cup final win, Hull can be troublesome opponents and so, albeit deceptively, it was proving here with Sánchez, Mesut Özil and a deep-lying Cazorla initially struggling to conjure telling final passes.
It did not deter their supporters from indulging in a brief bout of “going down” after Tom Huddlestone met a Héctor Bellerín cross with a heel and flicked it in a looping arc towards his own goal. Fortunately for Huddlestone the ball’s trajectory allowed Steve Harper a routine save. Sone Aluko soon experienced embarrassment of his own after Robbie Brady’s whipped-in cross confounded Wenger’s defence and the striker was offered a free header. Somehow failing to make proper contact with the ball, Aluko missed a highly inviting chance. It was the sort of moment which, when the music stops and relegation is confirmed or averted, can be seen as defining.
It certainly proved costly here because shortly afterwards Arsenal took the lead. It began with Huddlestone – looking a shadow of last season’s assured midfield choreographer – being caught loitering in possession by Özil. Having pinched the ball he picked out Sánchez whose advance was brought to an abrupt end by Livermore’s tackle.
Sanchez stepped forward and aimed to lift the ensuing free-kick over the wall. Helpfully it took a deflection off Michael Dawson, wrong-footing Harper and allowing the forward to celebrate his 15th Premier League goal of the campaign.
Finally able to relax slightly, Arsenal began finding their passing range and a wonderful delivery from Cazorla bisected two defenders, enabling Ramsey to turn and shoot. Brady attempted a last-ditch tackle but instead of rescuing the situation the ball instead deflected off him, once again wrong-footing Harper.
With Cazorla particularly contributing some lovely cameos the travelling fans were singing “Boring, boring Chelsea”. As Cazorla and company increasingly invested their passing with the sort of beautiful geometry capable of thoroughly bewildering the initially impressive Dawson and friends, Bruce hung his head.
Even more ominously the game was proving far too slick and speedy for Huddlestone who was caught dwelling on the ball once more by Ramsey and summarily dispossessed. Ramsey’s incisive pass enabled the accelerating Sánchez to round poor Harper and shoot his second goal and Arsenal’s 100th of the season.
There was a distinct exhibition-mode feel to a second half highlighted for Arsenal by Jack Wilshere stepping off the visiting bench to make a long-awaited return from injury, while his team missed assorted chances.
At least a second-half improvement in which Hull reduced the deficit bodes well for their final three fixtures at home to Burnley and Manchester United and away to Tottenham. Ahmed Elmohamady dispatched some fine crosses from right wing-back and a typically well-weighted delivery led to Stephen Quinn heading past Ospina. A couple of minutes later an unexpected fightback gathered pace as Elmohamady crossed again and Paul McShane headed narrowly over.
Yet despite further valiance from the excellent David Meyler, influential after replacing Livermore for the second half when he showed Francis Coquelin that he too knows a bit about the art of enforcement, it was very much Arsenal’s night.
“We’ll have to dust ourselves down and get ready for Burnley,” said Bruce. “After that the future could look a whole lot brighter.”
