Arsene Wenger buoyed by Hull victory as he deflects questions about his future

Wenger's mood was vastly improved as Arsenal avoided losing thee games in a row, with the Frenchman denying his Arsenal reign was approaching 'the end'

Wenger denied that he told Ian Wright his time at Arsenal was 'coming to an end'

Amid all the talk about Arsene Wenger’s future and the context of what exactly he said to Ian Wright, those closest to the Arsenal manager say one thing should always be kept in mind with this lingering question. The 67-year-old is so immersed in the job, and his mood so completely dictated by whatever the last result happens to be, that his attitude to his future will go hand in hand with how he feels about his last game.

So, if he were to be directly asked about it after the Hull City game - and, just as with Wright, in a situation outside a press conference since he is so unwilling to discuss it with the media - he would no doubt be much more positive than after successive deflating defeats, much less likely to speak about “the end”.

That certainly came across when he was inevitably asked about his former striker’s comments. While Wenger first pleaded ignorance at what had been said on BBC Radio 5 Live, and then added further intrigue by admitting he did have a private dinner Wright and a few others before the 500-person question-and-answers event that Arsenal insisted all comments came at, he did ultimately deal with the situation with humour. That, of course, came after he had insisted Wright may have misinterpreted him.

“There was a question and answers,” Wenger said. “I could be tired because I get up early in the morning and I finish late at night so sometimes I am tired, yes but I didn't give any indication about my future.

“I appreciate very much that you want me to rest, absolutely, but I am not ready for that.”

He is also not ready to make his decision. The Independent has been told by high-level sources that nobody in Wenger’s closest circle knows what he is leaning. Some feel that, when it comes right down to it, he won’t be able to yet contemplate a life without the everyday of his work at Arsenal. Others think the course of the campaign could dictate things, just as results dictate his mood.

He was thereby understandably relieved on Saturday, and so evidently carried the light-hearted elation that tends to go with that. It came across in everything he said, almost every word delivered with a wide smile.

Resilience has been a creditable feature of Wenger's reign (Getty Images)

“It was more about the mathematics than the brilliance today,” Wenger said. “We had absolutely to win and we played, unfortunately, against a good team. I could not see any weaknesses in them, even from the stands. Physically they are strong. They are well organised, a good spirit and technically they are good, as well.

“I thought we started well. We created some good chances until we scored. After we became a bit more protective to protect the result. In the second-half, we played a bit more to not concede a goal. That's what the game was about because we knew it was absolutely vital to win today.”

Perhaps, though, it should be no surprise that they won - despite the familiar debate of the last week. Arsenal have consistently had a remarkable self-correcting mechanism throughout the tougher last 13 years of Wenger’s reign and he himself referred to it after this match.

“When you lose two games on the trot, you face a good storm, when you are at Arsenal. And there is only one answer and it's to win the next game. Or you face even more. I am at Arsenal for 20yrs, I know that. But when you look one day, whether I lost three Premier League games on the trot and you will be surprised.”

Or maybe impressed. Wenger is right here. He has only three times lost three successive Premier League games, and that has not happened for five years.

It didn’t happen here, and that is why he is also right that this was more about the “mathematics” - or perhaps the mechanics of just getting a win, any win - than “brilliance”.

Arsenal were very far from brilliant, as the very nature of their goals proved, one handball, one penalty from a handball. Hull also made life very difficult for them in the time between Alexis Sanchez’s 34th-minute opener and stoppage-time spot-kick, with Marco Silva’s team impressively responding to going behind. They didn’t collapse in the way similar teams might, and instead got better, ensuring it was a very nervy afternoon for Arsenal.

The team dug in, however, to ensure it now isn’t such a nervy time. We’re back to normal, Wenger felt back to normal.

That new normality, however, is going to involve a lot of questions about his future until the end of the season.