Hull City vs Arsenal: Gunners already in leaders Manchester City's wake but are willing to wait for right moment

It is a sate of affairs that has looked increasingly clear since the start of the season, and now Arsene Wenger is the first to put it into words. In simple terms, the Premier League is playing catch-up with Manchester City.

While Arsenal continued to repair the damage inflicted by their two-game no-show at the outset of the campaign with a comfortable victory at the KCOM Stadium, Pep Guardiola's league leaders racked-up an eighth consecutive victory in all competitions, to underline their status as this season's eminent force in English football.

Even at this early stage, they enjoy a five-point advantage over the Gunners, who must wait until they travel to the Etihad Stadium in December to test themselves against a side already being talked of as Champions-elect. Until then, as it does for any of the other outside-bet title contenders, it looks like a case of attempting to hang onto City's coat-tails.

"I would prefer to be five points ahead," conceded Wenger, when asked if he was concerned about the early points differential. He at least knows recent history is against City, whose impressive sprint from the blocks mirrors that of 12 months ago, when they won their first five league games without conceding a goal, but still ended up being out-lasted by the Frenchman's perennial Champions League qualifiers, who finished two places and five points above them.

"We've only played five games," added Wenger, who saw Alexis Sanchez score in each half in addition to missing a penalty shortly before the interval, after Hull defender Jake Livermore sent off for handball. The Arsenal manager added: "At the moment, Manchester City are the better team as well as the most consistent. We have to play catch up a little bit, but hopefully we can do that."

Theo Walcott and substitute Granit Xhaka, in stunning fashion from 30 yards, scored at the outset and the end of second period to underline the visitors' dominance, with Alex Iwobi again catching the eye as the 20-year-old provided two assists. "It's just really exciting playing in a team like this," the forward said. "It was a great performance, there are so many good players to lean from and I think the more I play with them the more I will mature out on the pitch."

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While Arsenal contemplate their mission implausible of catching City, Hull's ambitions are rather more modest, as they aim to finish above at least three other teams in May. Mike Phelan is set to bring some much needed stability to a club with an uncertain future in terms of its ownership, with the 53-year-old caretaker manager this week set to accept an offer to take on the role full-time.

They briefly threatened a comeback when Robert Snodgrass converted a penalty awarded for Petr Cech's foul on substitute Dieumerci Mbokani, but as Phelan rightly pointed out, this was almost a free hit in terms of gathering points towards their Premier League survival survival. The outcome of dogfights on a more level playing field against those other teams seeking salvation at the bottom will have a greater bearing on which division they find themselves in next season.

"I hope so," Phelan said, when asked if it was more a case of when he takes charge, not if. He added: "There's been an offer and it's just a case of making sure everything is correct, and we can get on with it. It will get done sooner, rather than later."