Hull City defender John Egan was left with “mixed feelings” after the Tigers were beaten 1-0 by Arsenal.

Sergej Jakirovic’s men fought valiantly at the home of the reigning Premier League champions on Saturday (November 7), defending against an array of world-class attackers with admirable grit.

Hull’s resistance cracked with less than 20 minutes of normal time remaining, when Martin Odegaard dinked a shot beyond goalkeeper Konstantin Tzolakis.

John Egan’s mixed feelings

34-year-old Egan told Hull’s media team: “I feel like we put a really good performance in, put a lot into the game. You know, what we worked on all week, we put on the pitch. Maybe [it was] a little bit of a missed opportunity the way we played.

“I think we deserved a result. We made it hard for them. [I’m] proud of the lads. I really thought we played really well, so mixed feelings. Disappointed not to get a result, but also a really tough place to come. We played really well.”

‘Wrong side of a tight game’

Arsenal dominated possession as expected but Hull’s central back three of Egan, Semi Ajayi and Nobel Mendy, flanked by Lewie Coyle and Elliot Stroud, made life tough for the Gunners in the final third.

They were shielded by a central midfield three of Tim Iroegbunam, Lucas Gourna-Douath and Regan Slater, who had their hands full against Bruno Guimarães, Declan Rice and Odegaard.

Egan said: “When you play a game like this, you know, you do everything you can to get a result. We did that. You know, on another day the ball falls to us. Today, it fell to them.

“We were on the wrong side of a tight game against, I believe, the best team in Europe. We've shown a lot.

“I think the manager set us up well. The staff during the week got us ready for it. We were aggressive, brave, made it hard for them. And yeah, I'm proud of the team.”