Following the example of Manchester United and Chelsea earlier in the day, the Gunners made it a trio of big four teams to win late on as they struck twice in the last nine minutes.

Hull had looked set to frustrate Arsenal for the second time this season as Daniel Cousin cancelled out Emmanuel Adebayor's opener but Samir Nasri and Nicklas Bendtner settled the match.

Victory at the KC Stadium ensured the Gunners also avoided losing ground to fourth-placed Aston Villa, who were victorious at Sunderland today.

Wenger said: "It was a battle but in the first half I believe we were really on top of the game.

"We had a lot of fluency in our game and at 1-0 we wanted to keep them under pressure but in the second half they made a real battle of it.

"There were a lot of long balls, they played a bit higher up. It became different and we had the deflected ball to concede the goal.

"But we had the resources to come back and win in a convincing way because we kept going.

"I think we have scored 16 times in the last 33 games in the last 15 minutes and we did that again today."

The defeat was Hull's fifth in succession in the league and Phil Brown's side have now won only once in their last 13 outings.

Manager Phil Brown admitted he would have regarded a point as a bonus but was unhappy his side did not earn a penalty in the second half.

New loan signing Manucho, who came on as a second-half substitute, was left with a facial wound after clashing heads with Johan Djourou in the area.

Hull's players appealed for a spot-kick but referee Alan Wiley was uninterested.

Brown said: "Brian Horton [Hull's assistant manager] has managed over 1,200 games and he is calling it assault, not a penalty.

"Outside the box it is a free-kick, inside it is not a penalty. Astounding.

"Arsenal showed what they are capable of in the last 10 minutes and they looked like they have got a handsome victory, but games turn on key moments and that was a key moment."

Brown's chronology was slightly awry as he claimed the penalty could have allowed his side to take a 2-1 lead, although it happened when the score was still 1-0, but his point was not lost.

Hull remain eighth in the table but they are just six points above the bottom three.

Brown, however, answered with a defiant "no" when asked if relegation was becoming a concern.

Brown said: "With 17 games to go we seem to have been on 27 points for a long time but there are certain games we are earmarking we think we can win, there are certain games if we bring our best game to the table we could get something from it.

"Today if we'd got a point or three it would have been a bonus point or three."