It was not until his post-match lap of the pitch that Álvaro Arbeloa allowed himself a smile. After an uncomfortable week when his future was being called into question, the former Real Madrid manager has a Premier League win under his belt at the seventh attempt, lifting his side off the foot of the table. But it is not a win without caveats.

Alex Iwobi’s goal in the first half should have been one of many, with the Nigeria winger among those guilty of missing gilt-edge chances. Gonzalo García, who has not scored in the league since the opening weekend of the season, headed against the crossbar from close range in the second half.

Fulham ended with 10 men after Ryan Sessegnon’s red card in stoppage time, but it did not matter against a toothless Hull side, who are now winless in five.

With Fulham also a goal up against Ipswich last Saturday and Manchester United here before the international break before dropping vital points, you could forgive Arbeloa for the stern expression he wore as his team continued to pass up opportunities.

“I saw this movie before,” he said. “I didn’t have the feeling we were in danger, but in football you never know. In one second, any team can score.

“It is so important to get the chances [converted] because you want to play the last minutes with a little more calm. It’s better to win 2-0 than 1-0, even in a game like that where we were a much better team.”

This was a sentiment shared by Hull, whose lack of quality at either end of the pitch was another caveat. “That was the worst performance since I’m here,” said their head coach, Sergej Jakirovic, who is in danger of a promising start fizzling out. “You see in every challenge, they were stronger. Every challenge, they ate us alive.”

This was the type of performance Fulham would have expected when it appointed Arbeloa as Marco Silva’s successor in the summer. It was a move designed to bring a more entertaining style to Craven Cottage after four years of Premier League stability in midtable – the Spaniard brought five members of staff with him from Real Madrid and three players.

There was plenty of creativity on show against Hull, 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 winner. 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.

Jakirovic needed to find answers at half-time and he replaced the 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, the 19-year-old King is expected to push on. 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.

A smart turn from King away from Semi Ajayi preceded a chance that Iwobi, with time and the whole goal to aim at, should have buried, but he telegraphed his low effort for Tzolakis to read and smother. García was unmarked at the back post when he headed Iwobi’s cross against the bar, but Hull provided such little threat that what could have been a nervy ending, especially after Sessegnon’s stoppage-time dismissal for leaving his studs on Robinio Vaz’s achilles, was anything but.

With the pressure now relieved a little and his ideas evidently translating to his players, will the often stoney-faced Arbeloa feel more relaxed at training? “I always try to smile,” he said. “Even when you are losing, it’s even more important that you try to smile.”