Match Report – Match Highlights – Post-Match Press Conference
Final Result: Luton Town 3-4 Arsenal (Osho 24′, Adebayo 48′, Barkley 56′ | Martinelli 19?, Jesus 44?, Havertz 59?, Rice 97?)
Arsenal XI (4-3-3): Raya; Kiwior (Zinchenko 64?), Saliba, Gabriel, White; Rice, Odegaard, Havertz; Martinelli (Trossard 64′), Saka, Jesus
Luton Town might have been in the lower echelon of the Premier League table, but they were no pushovers in Kenilworth Road, grabbing draws against Wolves and Liverpool, while getting a victory over Crystal Palace, so Arsenal had their work cut out for them. Kenilworth Road is quite small, and it gave me some Highbury vibes.
Early on, Luton Town got stuck in, listening to the roar of their home crowd as they took the game to Arsenal. The first noteworthy highlight came when Tendi Mengi barged into the back of Gabriel Martinelli, causing the Brazilian winger some discomfort. Martinelli would have the last laugh when he opened the scoring for the visitors thanks to some quick thinking from Gabriel Jesus and a neat pull back from Bukayo Saka.
However, Arsenal’s lead lasted only for five minutes, as an unmarked Gabriel Osho latched onto Alfie Daughtry’s corner to head the ball home from point blank range. For the life of me, I didn’t understand the marking in the danger area, and Arsenal was punished duly for their complacency.
Saka responded with a quick-fire curler that saw parried by Kaminski but Arsenal went into the break ahead when Saka threaded a sumptuous ball to Ben White in behind the Luton defense, allowing the full back to dink a carefully cushioned ball that was headed in with pinpoint accuracy by Jesus. He even did the whole Cristiano Ronaldo floating in the air while waiting for the ball thing. It was glorious.
One would have hoped that Arsenal going into the lead at halftime would give them the opportunity to gain a foothold of the game but David Raya chose the worst possible time to unleash his gaffes, that would put some spotlight into the Raya vs. Ramsdale unending drama. Two very amazing goalkeepers in their own right have become a mere shadow of themselves thanks to all the scrutiny and peering eyes around them since this saga began.
Daughtry swung in a routine cross that was meant to have been punched into orbit by Raya, but the goalie’s movement and positioning was shambolic, allowing Elijah Adebayo to attack the ball before him and guide the ball to an unguarded net. As if that wasn’t bad enough, White was in No Man’s Land when Ross Barkley attacked the ball from the edge of the area and unleashed a very tame shot that someone found its way past Raya to make it 3-2 to Luton Town.
Unbelievable scenes.
Arsenal didn’t wallop in their predicament and continued to focus on the most important thing, which was the football, and they reaped the rewards of their efforts when Jesus, who was dragged to Hell by Mengi still managed to get control of the ball and lob it to Kai Havertz that arrived on the scene to poke it past Kaminski to level the contest.
Jakub Kiwior struggled on the left and Martinelli couldn’t influence the game as much as the gaffer would have hoped, so Oleksandr Zinchenko and Leandro Trossard came into the mix to add some impetus to Arsenal’s attack. The long wait for the match winner ensued and Luton managed to defend with their lives but right at the death Arsenal won the game through some individual brilliance and sheer determination from Declan Rice.
Kudos to Zinchenko and Martin Odegaard for having cool heads to control the ball before swinging it in for one last hurrah, but the way Rice leapt ahead of Osho to get his lovely head on the ball to win it for the Gunners was so bliss. Prior to that goal, I could barely stand, kneeling on the ground and even sitting on the floor and I kept asking myself how I was going to drop points to Luton Town, but cometh the hour, cometh the Rice and boy, it was rapturous.
The Luton Town players felt and looked dejected but a fish’s tit wasn’t given, and Arsenal had more than enough in the tank to gain all three points.
Big ups to Rice for scoring the goal that cleaned up the mess Raya made on the other end of the pitch.
Sayonara.
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