Arsenal leave it late to down inspired Luton and extend Premier League lead

Luton Town 3-4 Arsenal (Osho 25′, Adebayo 50′, Barkley 57′ | Martinelli 20′, Jesus 45′, Havertz 60′, Rice 90+7′)

KENILWORTH ROAD — It was almost unfair. Declan Rice produced a late winner in the seventh minute of stoppage time of a game that was scheduled for six. Luton had fought so hard for so long to be level and deserved at least a point for their efforts.

Arsenal were handed the sort of soft opening goal most welcome on a potentially hard night after only 20 minutes, involving two farcical faults from Luton and some quick-thinking from Gabriel Jesus.

Amari’i Bell played a ludicrously heavy pass back to his goalkeeper from almost the half-way line. Then, to avoid conceding a corner, Thomas Kaminski played the ball out for a throw-in. But he needed to clear the stand rather than pass it neatly off the pitch and Arsenal swiftly punished them.

Jesus lobbed the ball into the path of Bukayo Saka and the forward, making his 200th appearance for Arsenal, rolled the ball across for Gabriel Martinelli to roll (or possibly scuff) into the bottom corner.

It was why Mikel Arteta was so frustrated they conceded to a corner five minutes later. It was a fine header — Gabriel Osho powering the ball beyond David Raya — but it undid the advantage of that early fortune.

Luton were tough, well organised, tackled hard and appeared almost to target Martinelli, as though trying to put him off his game. On this evidence, they will prove tricky opponents for many visitors this season.

Kenilworth Road is a proper old-fashioned ground, where the fans are practically on the pitch and it feels like the 11,500 supporters — a fraction of the capacity of Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium — are screaming in your face.

It’s the sort of place where a large section of the fans chant “oooooooohhhhhhhhhhh…. you’re shit, ahhhh!” when the goalkeeper takes a free kick, where they chant “who are ya?” loudly and proudly after they score and “wanker!” repeatedly at Martinelli after he stumbles, suspiciously in pursuit of a foul, to concede a throw-in. This is the sort of place where the opposition striker played in League Two a couple of years ago.

Luton drew with Liverpool here, gave Tottenham a good go, gave Arsenal a miserable evening even though Rice cost more in the summer than the projected cost of Luton’s entire new stadium.

It was, perhaps, why relief seemed to spread through the Arsenal dugout when they retook the lead just before the break with a distinctly ‘Arsenal’ move — the sort of slick move required to slip through testing opponents.

Ben White combined intricate passes with Saka to find himself in behind Luton’s defence then stuck the ball up high, watching as it fell perfectly into the late run of Jesus who headed in.

But still Luton dug in and another corner delivered another equaliser, Alfie Doughty’s delivery headed past David Raya by that former League Two forward, Elijah Adebayo.

And then they just… kept going for it, taking an astonishing lead three minutes with a low shot from Ross Barkley that should have been saved by Raya but was deserved reward for a great performance, nonetheless.

Luton’s fans had barely got to the end of singing “Top of the league, you’re having a laugh!” before Kai Havertz levelled the score again. And it would be Arsenal enjoying the last laugh as Rice headed in to move them five clear at the top.