Slowly but surely, Phil Brown is transforming perceptions of himself, his club and an entire city.

The long-ball merchant who failed in the Coca-Cola Championship with Derby County is a tactical genius who can plot a counter-attacking victory away to Arsenal that was easy on the eye. Hull City are a force to be reckoned with in the Barclays Premier League and the city’s sporting landscape has been turned on its head. Not since Hull Kingston Rovers beat Hull in the 1986 Challenge Cup final at Wembley have the people of Kingston-upon-Hull so enjoyed a day out in London, but with a visit to Tottenham Hotspur looming on Sunday, they could yet inflict more capital punishment.

Brown joked afterwards that Hull have accumulated the same number of points as Derby managed last season with 32 matches remaining, a position he is relishing given his difficult experiences at Pride Park, but it is the achievement of another of his

clubs that he is keenest to emulate. In partnership with Sam Allardyce, Brown helped to take Bolton Wanderers from the lower reaches of the Championship to the Uefa Cup, an incredible journey that he is hoping to repeat in even more unlikely circumstances at Hull. Not everything the pair touch turns to gold, however, as the experience of a horse running in the 2.05pm at Market Rasen the same afternoon testifies.

“I speak to Sam once or twice a week,” Brown said. “We had a horse running at Market Rasen this morning – European Dream – so I spoke with him about that. It got ‘murdered’, but this makes up for it. It was named after Bolton Wanderers’ dream; obviously we realised that.

“I’d like to think wins like this could be a regular occurrence, but a lot of hard work has gone into today. Myself and the chairman are going to buy a horse, but what we’re going to call it I won’t tell you.”

Unlike on the race track, Brown and Allardyce made a habit of upsetting the odds at Bolton, but for a newly promoted side to inflict what was only Arsenal’s second defeat at the Emirates Stadium tops the lot, even trumping the high of last season’s play-offs final at Wembley.

It was no fluke, either, as Brown reaped the rewards of sticking with the attacking lineup that won away to Newcastle United a fortnight ago, playing two strikers in front of the magical Geovanni. Daniel Cousin came in for the injured Craig Fagan to score the winning goal on his second appearance for the club after the Brazilian had cancelled out Paul McShane’s own goal with a stunning strike from 25 yards. Arsenal were out of sorts, lacking sharpness in the final third and solidity at the back, epitomised by conceding yet another goal from a set-piece. But that should not detract from the visiting team’s achievement. “Of course coming to the Emirates and taking three points will surprise a lot of people, but it doesn’t surprise anyone in our changing-room,” Brown said.

“We’ve got a belief that we can do something this year. Proving people wrong is always a motivation for me, or for any of the players having come from the second division and played football in the lower divisions mostly.”

Hull’s rise to sixth in the table is even more startling given that they began planning for this season a month after their rivals in the wake of promotion via the play-offs and have absorbed a huge turnover of players, with only Michael Turner, Boaz Myhill, Andy Dawson and Ian Ashbee surviving from the side who beat Bristol City in May. For the latter three in particular this was a day to remember because they first played for Hull in the third tier five years ago at a dilapidated Boothferry Park.

“I’ve played at some right dumps in my time – and Boothferry Park was one of them,” Ashbee said. “I’ve done it the hard way and to finally get the chance to come here and play at such a massive stadium, even for the fans it’s brilliant. You can’t believe it when you’re playing against the likes of Cesc Fàbregas after playing in League Two not that long ago.

“This result is as good as anything I’ve achieved. No one gave us a hope in hell but we’ve proved people wrong again. It’s a momentous day for us. It’s another historic day for Hull City.”

Arsenal (4-4-2): M Almunia 5 - B Sagna 5 K Touré 5 W Gallas 4 C Glichy 5 - T Walcott 6 F Fàbregas 6 Denilson 5 E Eboué 4 - E Adebayor 5 R van Persie 4. Substitutes: N Bendtner 4 (for Eboué, 69min); C Vela (for Walcott, 77). Not used: L Fabianski, A Ramsey, M Silvestre, J Djourou, A Song Billong. Next: Sunderland (a).

Hull City (4-3-1-2): B Myhill 7 - P McShane 6 M Turner 7 K Zayatte 6 A Dawson 6 - D Marney 6 I Ashbee 7, G Boateng 7 - Geovanni 7 - M King 6 D Cousin 7. Substitutes: B Hughes (for Geovanni, 72min); R Garcia (for Boateng, 77); B Mendy (for Cousin, 80) Not used: M Duke, P Halmosi, C Folan, S Ricketts. Next: Tottenham (a)