Many had questioned whether Arsene Wenger's Arsenal squad possessed the quality to sustain a challenge for the Premier League title but Wednesday night's victory over Hull City went some way to answering that.

City arrived in north London in a bullish mood following last weekend's victory against Liverpool, but that was quickly extinguished as the Gunners surged into a second-minute lead.

Wenger made five changes to the side that started Saturday's 3-0 triumph over Cardiff City and three of the incoming players combined to score.

Tomas Rosicky slipped the ball inside the Tigers' defence, releasing Carl Jenkinson who supplied an irresistible cross onto the head of Nicklas Bendtner for Arsenal to go in front.

With ever-present striker Olivier Giroud finally afforded a much-needed rest on the bench, Bendtner was starting his first Premier League fixture in an Arsenal shirt since March 2011.

The Denmark international received a mixed response from the home fans before kick-off after the 25-year-old recently signaled his intent to leave the Gunners in January, but his performance on the night suggested that he could yet have a future with his current employers.

Although City managed to withstand long periods of pressure from the home side for the remainder of the first period, their good work was quickly undone at the start of the second half.

The visitors' defence paused fatally in the 47th minute, wrongly believing that the ball had gone out of play.

Mesut Ozil and Aaron Ramsey exchanged passes around the City box, before Ramsey intuitively dinked the ball through for Ozil to make no mistake from eight yards.

With the game firmly under control Wenger brought on Theo Walcott, Jack Wilshere and Mikel Arteta, underlining the resources that the Gunners have at their disposal.

As Arsenal continue to confound their critics, Wenger is acutely aware that his side now go into a potentially season-defining pre-Christmas period that sees them face three big games within the space of seven days.

"We have a very heavy schedule and that is why I had to rest some players today and to rotate," said the Gunners boss.

"We play Everton on Sunday with little distance before Naples.

"We play Wednesday night in Naples and Saturday morning at Manchester City. For us, it is a very, very heavy schedule."

Any lingering questions as to whether the Gunners are genuine title contenders will surely be answered by the end of this period.