Declan Rice stoppage time header bails Arteta

Declan Rice 97 minutes stoppage time goal boosted Arsenal title push as they moved five points clearly at the summit of the Premier League table after an impressive 4-3 victory at Luton Town.

Arsenal were out of character defensively, twice surrendered a lead by conceding two goals from corner courtesy of David Raya blunders.

Bukayo Saka inch perfect pass to Gabriel Martinelli to slot the ball into the bottom corner opened the scoring, the score line was even in minutes through Gabriel Osho’s header from a corner in the 25th minutes.

Gabriel Jesus’ 45th minutes simple header from a Ben White cross made sure Arsenal went into the first half break with their one goal advantage intact.

Raya was at fault for Luton second goal as he was beaten to a routine corner by Elijah Adebayo, whose header trickled into the unguarded net.

The on-loan goalkeeper woes was compounded in the 57 minute when he allowed a tame strike from Ross Barkley to squirm underneath his body at the near post to give Luton the lead 3-2 for the first time in and entertaining mid-week game.

According to Opta, Barkley became the second player to score on his birthday in the Premier League this season after Nigerian Taiwo Awoniyi in August, both have ended up losing the match to Arsenal.

Jesus found Kai Havertz to equalise three minutes later following some hesitant defending from the hosts.

The come-back was completed after a Martin Odegaard’s cross in the 96th minute found Rice to head in the winner.

The victory means Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal end their 39 years winless run against Luton Town in all competitions.

Arteta said: “It was a special night, credit to Luton for the incredible atmosphere they created, they made things really difficult for us.

“We had to find a way to win, the character and the resilient the team displayed and how much we wanted to win was great.”