Luton Town 3 Arsenal 4
Rob Edwards’ side welcomed the league leaders to town for what potentially could be a tricky game for both sides. Arsenal came into this game as massive favourites but, as Liverpool found out, winning at Kenilworth Road is no easy task.
The last time these two teams met at Kenilworth Road in a top-flight game, Tim Berners-Lee announced his idea for the world wide web. To mark the birth of the internet, Mick Harford scored a winning goal for The Hatters on that day.
As Jesus pressured the Luton defence, Bell looked to play a pass to Kaminski but sent the keeper well wide of his goal. He kicked it out for a throw in, taken quickly by the Arsenal striker, with Saka crossing into the box. Martinelli got on the end of it and made it one-nil to the visitors.
It was a completely unnecessary goal and showed the defensive naivety of the hosts. The comedy of errors that led to it will have wound up Rob Edwards no end. However, it was the perfect start for Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal.
Credit: @premierleague
Doughty’s corners were to prove to be worth their weight in gold for the hosts, as he picked out Osho who headed home to draw the sides level. Arsenal’s defending was poor as no one tracked his run and he had a completely free header.
Gabriel Jesus seemed well up for this game and Luton were struggling with his movement and pace. The Brazilian spotted the run of Martinelli who got a shot away, only to see Kaminski make a good stop to deny him another goal.
Saka then picked the ball up on the right wing, cut inside and had nothing on his mind other than getting a shot away on his favoured left foot. Yet again the Luton keeper was to frustrate The Gunners as he made a save at full stretch.
White then did well pushing forward from full back. He got to the byline and stood a cross up to the back post, where Jesus arrived to head home. He may not be able to turn water into wine but he can certainly head home from two yards out.
The Hatters came out in the second half looking to claw their way back into the game and won an early corner as Andros Townsend’s effort deflected behind. David Raya came to collect the cross with all the confidence of an African at a KKK meet and Adebayo headed into the empty net.
Mikel Arteta said he wanted two top class keepers who could challenge for the number one spot. It must be a worry to both Raya and Ramsdale that the impending arrival of the keepers the manager talks of will happen in the next transfer window.
Credit: @premierleague
Barkley then combined with Townsend and the former Everton player had a left-footed shot, which went straight under the body of David Raya. If his effort to save the shot was any poorer it would be attending a food bank near you soon.
However, Luton’s defence was looking weaker than Boris Johnson’s in the covid enquiry and Havertz ghosted through to flick the ball past Kaminski. Jesus did well to lay it into the German’s path but Rob Edwards would have been forgiven for glaring at his defensive coach right about now.
Saka continued to cause problems and as he weaved his way into the box it was taken off his toe by Trossard who lashed it over the bar. Arteta’s side were knocking on the door and twice claimed for penalties but both officials and VAR disagreed.
The fourth official had signalled we were to have six minutes of added time so it makes perfect sense that Declan Rice was to rise to head home in the 97th minute to give The Gunners a priceless winning goal. Well, if you could put a price on it, I can imagine it would be around the £105m mark.
Arsenal extended their lead at the top of the table, while Luton remained perilously close to the bottom three. After the game Arteta said how pleased he was with Raya in his post-match interview, you can only guess he is making money from ‘both teams to score both halves’ on his weekly acca.
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