Arsenal 2 Luton Town 0
Arsenal welcomed relegation-threatened Luton Town to The Emirates, knowing that victory would take them to the top of the table, with Liverpool not playing until Thursday. Arteta rotated his squad with a packed fixture list on the horizon.
The Gunners dominated the early stages of the game without really creating any clear-cut chances as the visitors looked to get players behind the ball. The visitors were offering vey little in an attacking sense and were having to cope with wave after wave of attack as a result.
Mpanzu gave the ball away in the middle of the park and The Gunners spread the ball to Havertz in a wide position in the penalty area. He held it up well until he spotted the run of Odegaard and fed it into his path. The Norwegian struck it with the outside of his boot into the bottom corner of the goal.
With little to get excited about up until this point, The Emirates was reminiscent of the famed ‘Highbury library’ but as Odegaard’s effort nestled into the net North London erupted as fans hoped this would break the seal on a goal-fest.
Credit: @Arsenal
Luton are stuck in a repeating cycle in the Premier League. They have a habit of switching off in defence and at this level you get punished like HMRC have not taken the right amount of tax off you in a financial year. Brutally. Unless of course you are a huge corporation.
Arteta’s side almost doubled their lead when some neat footwork by Odegaard on the edge of the box gave Smith Rowe a sight of goal. The doppelganger for Ste from Hollyoaks hit his shot too close to the keeper and Kaminski saved. Cue the theme tune.
White then performed a cute drag back to lose two defenders before feeding it into the path of Havertz in a wide position in the box. The German fired off a left-footed shot but it was an easy save for the Luton keeper given the tight angle.
Just before the break, Smith Rowe got to the byline and cut it back towards Nelson but the winger missed the ball completely as it went through his legs. Fortunately for The Gunners, it struck the Luton defender behind him and went into the net. He made a real Hashioka of that.
Rob Edwards’ side came out in the second half in much more positive mood. They started to dominate possession but were struggling to create opportunities to really ask any questions of David Raya in the Arsenal goal.
The hosts countered with Nketiah down the left, who fed the ball to Trossard. He looked to get a shot off but had too many defenders in his way so laid it off to Tomiyasu. The defender checked onto his right foot and looked to bend one in the far corner, narrowly missing Kaminski’s post.
Credit: @premierleague
It was a strange half as Mikel Arteta’s side knew they had the win in the bag, as long as nothing went wrong in defence. Jorginho won the ball in midfield and played it to Nketiah who looked to beat Kaminski at his near post. The Hatters’ keeper got down well to turn it behind for a corner.
What proved to be a routine win for The Gunners saw them put the pressure on their title rivals as they ended the day back on top of the Premier League table. No doubt between now and the end of the season, the summit of the league will prove to be like the Iron Throne.
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