Maybe this is going to be Arsenal’s season after all. They moved above Manchester United into second place not with a football exhibition but courtesy of a stoppage time blunder from Boaz Myhill in the Hull goal. That was mightily cruel on the Tigers, who made light of having to play with 10 men for the whole of the second half and defended like their namesakes in keeping Arsenal at bay until the 93rd minute, but life is not always fair and many a title challenge has turned on such a piece of luck.

Hull were not quite as accommodating as Porto, yet after just 14 minutes of preliminary exchanges, Arsenal picked up where they left off in midweek by taking the lead with a goal of some quality.

Andrey Arshavin’s part in Tuesday’s Champions League feast was overlooked once Samir Nasri scored his wonder goal, but here the Russian reprised his trick of going past defenders at will in the penalty area and this time he was the beneficiary.

Taking the ball from Nicklas Bendtner after a slick passing move had brought Arsenal all the way down the pitch, Arshavin used his knack of keeping possession when he seems to have shown too much to the defender to completely bamboozle George Boateng and Bernard Mendy. The latter ended up in a heap on the floor, Arshavin was clean through, and in the absence of any challenge from Hull’s centre-backs he coolly stabbed the ball past Myhill.

The incisiveness of the strike made most of the home side’s forward forays look pedestrian by comparison, yet somewhat fortuitously Hull were back on terms after half an hour. Fortuitously because Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink was in an offside position when the ball came over the top of the Arsenal defence to reach him. Had the offence been spotted Sol Campbell would have been in the clear; as it was he was obliged to clamber all over the tall striker from behind and concede a fairly soft penalty, one that Jimmy Bullard eagerly smashed past Manuel Almunia.

That encouraged the crowd and lifted Hull’s confidence, yet still they failed to see out the 15 minutes to the interval without mishap. First Boateng became involved in an argument with Bendtner after Andy Dawson was booked for a foul on Nasri, and picked up a caution himself for pushing the Dane in the face. Then in stoppage time the Hull captain received a second yellow for a wild challenge on Bacary Sagna, knee-high and studs raised, so had to go. The crowd did not like it but Andre Marriner could have been accused of leniency for showing first yellow and then red.

A Campbell tackle on Kamil Zayatte at the start of the second half looked just as bad. Even though Campbell played the ball in a 50-50 his follow-through caught Zayatte’s ankle and ended the Hull player’s participation, which should at least give Arsène Wenger pause when he makes summary judgements about tacklers’ intentions. Campbell hardly helped himself a couple of minutes later, or improved Phil Brown’s mood, by surreptitiously handling on the edge of his area and getting away with it. For all that Hull showed more enterprise with 10 men than they had with 11, with Vennegoor of Hesselink possibly wishing he could play against Campbell every week and Jozy Altidore almost playing him in after a strong run.

Arsenal should have scored when Theo Walcott came on and opened up Hull with his first burst, only for Nasri to take an unhelpful touch and Arshavin to make a bid for miss of the season from 10 yards. Most of the rest of the game was played on the edge of Hull’s area, yet now Arsenal looked tired too, their passing laboured and the incisiveness gone. Hull were worth a point, but saw it taken away from them when Myhill could only parry Denílson’s hopeful long shot, despite it coming straight at him, to allow Bendtner to steal in and seal what could be a significant victory.

THE FANS’ PLAYER RATINGS AND VERDICT

RICK SKELTON, HullCityOnline.com The best team probably won but it’s still gutting to concede a last-minute winner, especially after that horrendous goalkeeping. I was really please with our performance, we worked really hard with 10 men and limited their chances, which isn’t easy against a class team like Arsenal. It was a pretty stupid challenge from Boateng, he deserved to go, but it was a shame because we had them rattled at the time, Altidore was causing problems. We thought Campbell could’ve been sent off for the penalty, he was the last man. We’ll miss the injured Zayette, but the youngster Liam Cooper was superb when he came on.

The fan’s player ratings Myhill 4; Mendy 8, Mouyokolo 8, Zayette

Today’s piffle loves the smell of Dulux in the morning

Woo-woo. Dum-chum de-de de-de de. Woo-woo. Please allow The Mill to, er… Dum-chum de-de de-de de. Woo-woo. Something about driving a tank when the bodies stank. Dum-chum de-de de. Woo-woo.

For reasons that aren’t immediately clear, this morning the Mill feels a little different about the biggest story in the history of not-that-big stories painfully overinflated by righteous and self-serving gusts of hot air heated solely by the heart from hot air generated by pure hot air.

Whereas yesterday The Mill felt itself ranged squarely shoulder-to-shoulder, cheek-to-cheek alongside Cheryl, handsome dancer Derek, the dirty-looking blonde one from Girls Aloud and the perfumed-handkerchief-dabbing moral arbiters of the filthy red-tops. Today it has started to feel a slight dilution of its frothing indignation towards the world’s most evil left-back.

The Mill suspects it has something to do with this morning’s Sun. One of these people going about their business in a French medical clinic is behaving really quite strangely. But which one?

“ASHLEY Cole refused to say sorry for betraying Cheryl yesterday after The Sun tracked him down to a swish sports clinic in south west France. We asked him the question the whole nation wants to ask: “How could you?” But the shaken Chelsea star could only reply: “I just can’t talk about that.”

“Cole, having treatment on his broken ankle at the clinic in Capbreton, a seaside town near Biarritz, tried to hide behind an exercise machine when challenged by our reporter. And wearing a supportive sandal on his injured foot, he hobbled away on crutches after refusing to comment further.”

The Mill asks you. You get the bleeding Eurostar. You blag your way in through the gates. You then accost a weeping man on crutches and distract him from flexing his toes repeatedly while listening to sad power ballads on his chrome-plated iPod. And all you get in return is a polite refusal to discuss the most traumatic few days of his life.

Also, there’s this:

“LOVE rat Ashley Cole has blamed his mother-in-law over his marriage break-up. He told pals that life with Cheryl went downhill when her mum Joan, 50, moved in to keep an eye on her.

“A source close to Ashley was last night reported to have said their sex life dwindled to virtually nothing.
They added: “It’s a bit of a passion killer to have your mum in the house.”"

The Mill was rather surprised to read these words and would like to extend a personal invitation to Joan Tweedy to infiltrate The Mill’s own dank and cobwebbed crawl space in the eaves of fashionable .Co.Uk Integrated Towers in London’s horrible Kings Cross any time she fancies it. Blurry mobile phone photographs of The Mill’s ancient, sodden, mildewed sewn-in smalls are available on request.

Meanwhile in the world of almost non-existent actual concrete flimsy football tittle-tattle The Mirror says Arsène Wenger is “keeping tabs on” the 18 year-old Ajax starlet Christian Eriksen, who has been recommended by Dennis Bergkamp.

Arsenal have also given a trial to the 17 year-old Icelandic Whizzkid Ingolfur Sigurdsson, who plays, sadly, not in goal for, but inmidfieldfor Knattspyrnufelag Reykjavikur. Robin Van Persie is going to be fit for the last six games of Arsenal’s “title push” according to Bert Van Marwijk, who says: “I spoke to Robin on the phone last week and he is improving all the time and feeling better. You can hear it in his voice that he feels he is improving.” Hopefully this involved him saying at some point “I feel I am improving”.

Wayne Bridge is “in turmoil” over his expected England call up this weekend. He’s still too cross to kick a ball around next to John Terry, because Terry had sex with his ex-girlfriend, who had previously split up with Wayne Bridge, reportedly in part because of his own “philandering ways”.

Next week: fur singlet-clad Wayne Bridge drags woman through village by her hair because that shirt’s not going to iron itself. Roberto Mancini says his job is completely safe. “I don’t feel under pressure at all,” he said, speaking from beneath a small nest of antique stain occasional tables.

Neil Warnock is being “coy” over whether he’s about to leave Crystal Palace. “Can I deny speculation about going to QPR? No,” he said, before taking to the stage to sing “Happy Birthday Mr President” in a strapless ball gown while making a range of creepily child-like cooing kissy kissy noises.

In the Daily Mail Hull’s Kamil Zayatte says he’s going to leave in the summer. “I see myself at a bigger club than Hull. If I could land a move to Manchester United, Arsenal or Chelsea it would make all Guineans proud of me,” he said, making all Guineans feel at first amused and slightly protective and then perhaps even a little worried. In an EXCLUSIVE it turns out Bridge will refuse to shake hands with Terry when Man City play Chelsea this weekend.

The Mirror also reports that Rafael Benítez was asked why he’s so fat by Romanian journalists yesterday. One cheeky scamp asked: “Mr Benítez, the last time I saw you was at the 2005 Champions’ League final, and your, erm, silhouette seems to have changed since then. Why is that?”

Benitez replied: “It is the stress of having to answer so many questions from the press. Thank you and goodnight,” before clearing the soup bowls away, and going into the kitchen to flob in the beef Wellingtons. Jermaine Pennant has been sent home from training by Real Zaragoza after arriving late for the third time in two weeks. And the Portsmouth defender Dusko Tosic is going to leave on a free transfer having never played in a league game, which is probably all for the best.

In The Sun Ryan Babel has “vowed to knuckle down after a heart-to-heart with boss Rafael Benítez”. Babel said: “I have had a good talk with the manager and I know what I have to do.

“That is what I am going to concentrate on. I just have to try to be patient, keep working hard and doing my best.”

Landon Donovan has “hinted” he might like to make a permanent move to Everton. “I think it’s been an incredible experience and away from football, the people have been extremely nice,” he said, implying that English football might contain people who are something other than “incredibly nice”.

And according to Goal.com Kansas City Wizards wizard Luis Gil has been signed by Real Salt Lake.

“Real Salt Lake provides a prime environment for the development of young players,” says the excitable, blazered wise-cracking, golf-playing, sample-carrying, Cadillac-driving, wife-flirting, squirtie-water-flower-wearing overly friendly American man in a suit Garth Lagerwey.

“The dream of venturing onto the Rio Tinto Stadium turf will surely inspire Luis to work hard every day in training. We have a talented, veteran team and we have no expectation that any young player will easily crack our championship lineup, though our hope is that Luis is eventually able to earn minutes in the years ahead,” he added, sounding like a demented alien.

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