Declan Rice of Arsenal scores the workforce’s fourth objective within the final minute of added time to win the match 4-3 in the course of the Premier League match between Luton Town and Arsenal FC at Kenilworth Road on December 05, 2023, in Luton, England.
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Declan Rice’s header deep in stoppage time sealed an enthralling 4-3 victory for Arsenal at lowly Luton Town to ship them five factors clear at the highest of the Premier League on Tuesday.
Arsenal had been knocked out of their stride by an brisk and direct Luton facet and it appeared as although they have been about to increase their winless run at Kenilworth Road to 11 video games.
But with six minutes of stoppage time performed Rice discovered house to dispatch a header into the online.
His last-gasp objective sparked unbridled pleasure for the guests who’ve now gained 4 league video games in a row, nevertheless it was heartache for an intrepid Luton facet who had twice come from behind to steer early within the second half.
Arsenal have now taken 9 further factors this season courtesy of targets scored within the final five minutes of video games.
“Luton are a top side and they can’t be overlooked in this league for the quality they have,” Rice instructed Amazon Prime.
“To score in the last minute and keep the momentum building it’s massive for us. Those are the moments you look back on. What a game. To score the winner is an honour.”
Arsenal have 36 factors from 15 video games performed with Liverpool on 31 and champions Manchester City on 30 earlier than their video games at Sheffield United and Aston Villa respectively on Wednesday.
After a weekend of high-scoring encounters, the opening 20 minutes on a uncooked evening at Kenilworth Road have been uneventful with no trace of the thriller that was to unfold.
But the sport exploded into life when some fast pondering from a throw-in ended with Gabriel Martinelli scuffing a shot contained in the submit from Bukayo Saka’s in the reduction of.
Luton responded five minutes later with Gabriel Osho powering a header previous David Raya from Alfie Doughty’s nook.
Saka and Martinelli have been each denied by saves from Thomas Kaminski however Arsenal did go forward once more simply earlier than the break with Gabriel Jesus heading in Ben White’s dinked cross.
Arsenal had not gained at Luton since 1986 they usually have been rocked on their heels early within the second half as first Elijah Adebayo headed in one other Doughty nook within the forty ninth minute earlier than Andros Townsend performed in fellow former England worldwide Ross Barkley eight minutes later to drill a shot via Raya.
Raya ought to have completed higher for Luton’s second and third targets however his blushes have been spared by his workforce mates.
The outdated stadium was nonetheless reverberating from Barkley’s objective when Kai Havertz squared it up on the hour from Jesus’s go.
Arsenal utilized intense stress however Luton appeared to have sealed a memorable level till Martin Odegaard’s cross picked out Rice who positioned an ideal header previous Kaminski.
“Incredible evening. First of all, congratulations to Luton, their players, staff, the atmosphere they created made it a special night to play football and they made it very hard for us,” Arsenal supervisor Mikel Arteta stated.
“They are so good at set pieces and they made us really fight for the game and at the end it was a beautiful win.”
Luton stay fourth from backside with 9 factors and whereas the defeat stung, supervisor Rob Edwards was rightly pleased with his gamers who gave Arsenal an actual scare.
“Arsenal wanted a game of order and we made it chaotic at times,” Edwards stated. “I don’t think that has ever happened to me, conceding that late to lose a game so I’m flat right now.”
