A late, late strike from Nicklas Bendtner saw the Gunners take all three points at the KC Stadium yesterday afternoon and keep their title aspirations well-and-truly alive. Sometimes there are moments that turn a season - or at least seem to nudge it in the right direction. The injury to Aaron Ramsey and the resultant response by the players to go on and win the match at Stoke was one and the big Dane's winner late in injury time at Hull could turn out to be another.

Arsenal started the afternoon well enough and took the lead after 14 minutes through Andrey Arshavin. The build-up to the goal was a fantastic sweeping move that showed the best of Arsene Wenger's team. Crisp passes were inter-changed until Bendtner fizzed a final assist into Arshavin’s path. The diminutive Russian still had plenty to do but managed to fend off the attentions of two defenders before firing off a shot into the net.

Arshavin Fires Arsenal's Opener ©Empics

From there, it looked like the Gunners might run away with it but Hull got back on terms courtesy of a highly debatable penalty. Much has been made about the fact that Vennegoor of Hesselink was offside when the through-ball was struck but the contact with Sol Campbell was also pretty minimal. Television replays seemed to show the Hull player almost throw himself across the Campbell’s path to invite contact. A coming-together was inevitable and Vennegoor was only too happy to go down. Even ignoring the failure of the linesman to flag for offside, it was a very soft decision. Jimmy Bullard converted the kick to put the Tigers level.

Hull’s George Boateng then added another twist to the match by getting himself sent off just before the break. In the first instance, he poked Nicklas Bendtner in the eye off the ball - why Bendtner also got booked following the incident was an absolute mystery. A few minutes later Boateng then inflicted the sort of challenge on Bacery Sagna that pretty much underlined everything Arsene Wenger said after the Aaron Ramsey incident. It was a disgraceful tackle - his were studs raised and contact was halfway up Sagna’s lower-leg. Fortunately, the Frenchman was in motion and did not have his foot planted otherwise a repeat of what happened to Ramsey could have been on the cards. Boateng received two yellows but both incidents could have been seen as red card moments. Either way, he could have no complaints at getting his marching orders.

Credit to Hull though, reduced to ten men they looked the more assertive team in opening period of the second half. Though they barely troubled Manuel Almunia, they certainly did not allow Arsenal to take control of the match. As the game wore on though, the Gunners’ numerical advantage finally began to count as they threw everything forward in search of a winner. Even so, Hull stood firm.

The moment that decided it came three minutes into injury-time when Denilson launched a speculative long-range shot that Boaz Myhill in the Hull goal parried straight back into the danger area. Nicklas Bendtner reacted first and fasted and tucked home the rebound. It was a massive moment and, on the back of his hat-trick against Porto, was another big step in the right direction individually for the Dane.

It might not have been the prettiest Arsenal performance but all that mattered was the three points. Once Hull went down to ten men a draw would have been a disaster but scrambling late goals has been something of a speciality for the Gunners this season. They have now scored more goals in the last ten minutes of games than any other team in the Premier League. It is a knack that won them the match at Stoke a couple of weeks ago and they repeated the trick yesterday. Though statistics can be misleading, this one does suggest that this Arsenal team keep trying to the final whistle and have made their own luck by doing so.

Bendtner’s late strike will have hurt Hull but there won’t be too many tears for Phil Brown in North London. He is one of the league’s sorest losers and his behaviour after last season’s clash at Ashburton Grove won’t be forgotten in a hurry. More importantly though, it will have boosted Arsenal’s morale and belief as the run-in to the end of the season begins in earnest.

In his post-match interview for the BBC the Dane said, “We need to win the rest of our games so we can reach our targets.” Some might view this as the usual sort of waffle that gets talked in most post-match interviews but there was something about the matter-of-fact way that he made the comment that suggested that this was more than a TV-friendly platitude. It sounded like this has now become an accepted fact amongst the Arsenal players and they are genuinely thinking in these terms - that nothing less than victory in every game will do. Every team goes out with the intention to win – at least, you would think they do - but there is a big difference between hoping for victory and accepting nothing less.

Certainly, over the past few matches there has been a palpable positive shift in the overall attitude of the team. They look focussed, full of concentration and like they really mean business. It seems that Arsene Wenger really has got their minds in the right place at this critical time of the campaign. They might not have been at their best yesterday but they refused to be denied. If they can keep that going until the end of the season, then who knows what they might achieve?