Declan Rice snatched a last-gasp winner for Arsenal against Luton Town in the Premier League to hand them a 4-3 victory which sees them take a five-point lead on top of the standings.
The Gunners currently have 36 points from 15 games while Liverpool are second on 31 points and defending champions Manchester City have 30 points. Both City and Liverpool have played one less game than Londoners.
Here are the talking points from Arsenal’s victory over Luton Town, which has been something of a banana peel team for the Gunners:
David Raya’s mistakes mount
Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya is in the spotlight for the performance against Luton, primarily after letting in two goals that he could have kept out.
The pre-season recruit was at fault for Luton’s second and third goals. The mistakes came at a critical point too.
The first one came when Arsenal were leading 2-1 in the 49th minute. Off a corner kick from the right, Raya left his line but just did not leap as he was beaten in the air by Elijah Adebayo, who turned in his header for their equaliser.
Eight minutes later, a Ross Barkley shot from close range crept into the goal as the Spanish goalkeeper dived to his left.
With Raya taking over the goalkeeping duties from Aaron Ramsdale after joining on loan from Brentford there has been considerable questions about his decision-making.
Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta was asked about Raya’s performance.
“We have to defend better the situations as a team. There are certain things leading to the goals and it’s not about blaming, we have never done it, and we’re not going to do it now,” Arteta told reporters. “It’s about how the team reacts to that, because it’s going to happen, and I love that response.”
He added: “Today we conceded some goals that we are going to be disappointed with but that’s part of it as well. It’s going to happen and how we react to that, and it was great.”
While Raya is better with his feet than Ramsdale, he has produced errors in other parts of his game, like being caught completely out of position to let in a cross from Mykhailo Mudryk in a match at Chelsea in October.
The importance of Declan Rice for Arsenal
For a team chasing the Premier League title, the evening at Kenilworth Road could have been embarrassing. They were almost held to a draw by a newly-promoted team, which is likely to be battling relegation this season.
But that’s when Arsenal’s club-record signing in July stepped up. He scored the winner in the seventh minute of stoppage time. It will be a famous win, particularly because Kenilworth Road is a ground Arsenal had not won at since 1984.
And it was Rice — the player Arsenal broke the bank for in the transfer window agreeing to pay West Ham United £105million — who came through. The midfielder became the most expensive British player, but was largely expected to bolster Arsenal’s spine in the midfield. His goals are just the cherry on top of the cake.
This was Arsenal’s fourth straight victory in the league. Thanks to his contribution, Arsenal have now won nine points from goals in the last five minutes of games this season, a good sign for a club looking to win the league for the first time since 2004.
Kai Havertz scores again
After forward Kai Havertz was bought from Chelsea for a fee rising to £65million, he came under considerable flak for his inability to find the back of the goal.
But his goal against Luton showed that he has found his scoring boots.
As pointed out by Squawka, Havertz has scored as many goals for Arsenal in his last four appearances than he managed in his previous 32 matches for the North London club: three.
Besides the goal, Havertz had a busy night statistically: taking five shots and creating four chances besides having an 63.6% passing accuracy, 53 touches of the ball and winning 10 duels, which was the second-most for anyone on the pitch.
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