Arsenal kept the heat on in the title race when Nicklas Bendtner struck a dramatic winner in the 93rd minute of the evening kick-off at Hull City.
Just when it looked as if Hull would hang on for a point, Bendtner pounced, deep in injury time, following up a parry from the goalie to deftly turn home and strike a blow in the race for the title.
It was Andrey Arshavin who had opened the scoring after 14 minutes, stumbling past two challenges on the edge of the box, more through fortune than skill, before prodding a neat finish past Boaz Myhill in the goal.
Things were not going well for Hull at this point but they were thrown a lifeline on the half hour when a Craig Fagan ball over the top of the defence caught out Sol Campbell, who clumsily took down Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink from behind in an attempt to recover. Jimmy Bullard stepped up to fire the penalty high past Miguel Almunia and level it at 1-1, but there was more incident on the stroke of half time when Hull midfielder George Boateng picked up a second booking for a high tackle on Bacary Sagna.
After the break, ten-man Hull admirably didn't retreat totally into defence, although it was Arshavin who squandered the best chance for a lead goal in the 65th minute. Samir Nasri poked a Theo Walcott centre into the Russian's path, but with the ball hitting a small divot before he struck , the shot ballooned over from six yards out.
The Gunners cranked up the pressure then and on 80 minutes Nicklas Bendtner delayed fatally with a clear sight of goal at close range, allowing a defender get in a goal-saving block, but the increasingly great Dane would have the last say late on.