Arsenal had to stew on the Brighton defeat for three weeks over the last international break, but they will have a spring in their step when they link up with their countries this time around

Bruno Guimaraes saluted “unbelievable” Arsenal after they stretched their lead at the top of the Premier League with a gritty 1-0 win over Hull.

Martin Odegaard’s 72nd-minute strike settled a tight match in favour of the relentless Gunners, who now have 27 points from their 10 games this season after a seventh successive home win on the spin.

“We had a tough game, they made it feel so difficult for us, but it’s impressive numbers,” said Brazilian midfielder Guimaraes. “I’m happy for myself, for the team. We’ll keep going. We’ve been unbelievable.”

The only blip on Arsenal’s record in the league was the 3-0 defeat at Brighton in September.

The Gunners had to stew on that one for three weeks over the last international break, but they will have a spring in their step when they link up with their countries this time around.

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“The message for us was clear in the dressing room. The last time we had a break, we lost to Brighton in one of the worst games of our season,” added Guimaraes. “The message here was to leave in a good way and go to our internationals happy.”

Guimaraes had an excellent game in the centre alongside first Declan Rice and then Mikel Merino after the England man went off on the hour.

Boss Mikel Arteta believes his £75million summer signing from Newcastle is starting to come into his own in red and white.

“He’s much better, he had a massive impact, he’s hitting serious levels now, but we can still take him to another level,” said Arteta.

“That’s my conviction, I told him that in the dressing room. He owned a lot of moments in the game, but there is still much more to come.”

Saturday’s victory was the 34th time Arsenal have won 1-0 under Arteta in the Premier League.

Last week’s 1-0 success at Liverpool was branded a defensive masterclass, but this time Arteta pointed to the chances the Gunners squandered against Hull.

They were through on goal twice but Kai Havertz and Noni Madueke could not convert, while there was also a contentious penalty decision which was not given after Havertz was pulled back by Nobel Mendy.

“We need to be more efficient,” admitted Arteta. “We were one-on-one with the keeper twice, and if there was a penalty there too…

“There are shots deflected, blocked. We need to insist, to find ways to be more efficient and pragmatic.

“Sometimes we try to score the perfect goal against low blocks, but we need to be much more chaotic than that. If we open the scoring much earlier also, it changes the game.”