Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has hailed his players for their remarkable run of performances ahead of the international break, while admitting he was confused by a controversial penalty decision in the 1-0 win over Hull on Saturday.

Speaking to BBC Match of the Day after the final whistle, Arteta praised his squad for maintaining their standards during a demanding run of fixtures.

“Very happy with the performance and the victory as well. I think it is time to praise my players,” he said.

“What they have done not only today but after the international break is remarkable because of the games.

“We had to wait and be patient in the last part of the game to make the difference and win the game,” he explained.

“We kept generating chances, the final pass was missing or the last shot was blocked.

“We said at half-time if this is the case it will go all the way to full time but at some point it would come.”

Despite being pleased with Arsenal’s attacking play, Arteta believes there is still room for improvement when it comes to converting opportunities.

“We have some great moments, we need to put the chances we are creating against the opponent into the scoreline,” he added.

“That is what we need to improve.”

Arsenal boss questions confusing penalty decision

Arteta also addressed a controversial refereeing decision after Arsenal were denied a penalty following a VAR review.

Kai Havertz was pulled down in the penalty box, but was not awarded a penalty due to the German being in an offside position.

Arteta was left uncertain about the explanation after an offside decision prevented Arsenal from being awarded the spot-kick.

“I don’t know. When they called the referee to the monitor I thought it was a penalty but then I heard the decision was made because of the offside decision,” Arteta said.

“We don’t have clarity on it.”