Pressure on Arbeloa lifted after Alex Iwobi sinks Hull for Fulham’s first win

After such a dominant performance against a team so blunt going forward, it almost felt inevitable that Álvaro Arbeloa was going to be denied his first Premier League win as Fulham head coach in similar fashion as the weeks and games before. After all their chances and possession, Craven Cottage should not have been a place of nerves when Mohamed Belloumi lined up a free-kick as three minutes of stoppage time were shown.

When the Hull winger blazed that free-kick over the bar – in truth, the closest Hull had come to scoring throughout the second half – the tension was released that little bit more. Despite Ryan Sessegnon’s late red card, the full-time whistle brought a first victory of the season, courtesy of Alex Iwobi’s first-half strike, and a release from the burden of being the Premier League’s basement club.

Arbeloa’s appointment was designed to move Fulham on from Marco Silva’s pragmatic system to a more expansive style – the Spaniard brought five members of staff with him from Real Madrid and three players. This was a dominant display, with plenty of creativity, especially from the wingers Iwobi and Oscar Bobb. They started fast, with Iwobi sending a curling shot on to the roof of the net from the left and Bobb a constant threat on the right.

It was from an attack down the right that Fulham produced their opener. Hull’s left wing-back, Brooke Norton-Cuffy, held off Josh King but failed to clear and Sander Berge poked the ball into Iwobi’s path. His first-time shot should not have troubled the goalkeeper, Konstantinos Tzolakis, but it squirmed under his rolling dive at the near post after coming through a crowd of bodies, almost in the way you would let your child score past you in the garden.

Arbeloa remained a stern presence on the touchline, no doubt thinking of the reckoning that would come if his side threw away another lead. They had conceded late in their two previous games, against Ipswich last weekend and Manchester United here before the international break, with five points out of six dropped from the 88th minute onwards. The hosts doubled down against Hull and pushed for a second before the break, with Calvin Bassey heading over and King flashing a shot across goal that Tzolakis kept out with his foot.

It was Sergej Jakirovic who needed to find answers at half-time. He replaced the 19-year-old centre-back Lucas Herrington, who had been booked for one of his fouls on the elusive King, with the midfielder Tim Iroegbunam. After a bright breakthrough season in the first team under Silva, the 19-year-old King is expected to push on under Arbeloa. He was allowed to roam against Hull’s low block and, after neatly combining with Shea Charles, should have doubled their lead but his low shot was too close to Tzolakis’s feet again.

Tzolakis kept Hull in the game single-handedly. Another smart turn from King, this time away from Semi Ajayi, preceded a chance that Iwobi, with time and the whole goal to aim at, should too have buried but he telegraphed his low effort for Tzolakis to read and smother. When Iwobi curled another shot wide from the edge of the box with 20 minutes to go, Arbeloa continued to wear a pensive face – and with good reason. Gonzalo García, the £40m striker who has not scored in the league since the opening weekend, somehow headed Iwobi’s cross against the bar from six yards out.

Arbeloa was criticised for his substitutions before Ipswich’s late comeback last weekend, which included the introduction of the former Real Madrid youngster Manuel Ángel for his Premier League debut. With 10 minutes to go here and defending the same 1-0 lead, he opted to bring on Fulham stalwarts such as Tom Cairney and Ryan Sessegnon. The Fulham captain, Cairney, almost added a second in added time while Sessegnon was sent off for planting his studs on the achilles of the Hull substitute Robinio Vaz. He exited to a standing ovation and the cheers went on long after the full-time whistle.