Arsenal go five clear as Rice seals 7-goal thriller at Luton

LONDON: Declan Rice’s header deep in stoppage time sealed an enthralling 4-3 victory for Arsenal at lowly Luton Town to send them provisionally five points clear at the top of the Premier League on Tuesday.

Arsenal had been knoc­ked out of their stride by an energetic and direct Luton side and it looked as though they were about to extend their winless run at Kenil­worth Road to 11 games.

Rocked by a pair of costly blunders from keeper David Raya, Mikel Arteta’s side trailed 3-2 in the second half of a pulsating clash but roared back thanks to Kai Havertz’s equaliser and then, with six minutes of stoppage time played, Rice found space to dispatch a header into the net.

His last-gasp goal sparked unbridled joy for the visitors who have now won four league games in a row, but it was heartache for an intrepid Luton side who had twice come from behind to lead early in the second half and fourth from bottom.

Arsenal have now taken nine extra points this season courtesy of goals scored in the last five minutes of games.

“Luton are a top side and they can’t be overlooked in this league for the quality they have,” Rice told Amazon Prime. “To score in the last minute and keep the momentum building it’s massive for us. Those are the moments you look back on. What a game. To score the winner is an honour.”

After a weekend of high-scoring encounters the opening 20 minutes on a raw night at Kenilworth Road were uneventful with no hint of the thriller that was to unfold.

But the game exploded into life when some quick thinking from a throw-in ended with Gabriel Martinelli scuffing a shot inside the post from Bukayo Saka’s cut back.

Luton responded five minutes later with Gabriel Osho powering a header past Raya from Alfie Doughty’s corner.

Saka and Martinelli were both denied by saves from Thomas Kaminski but Arsenal did go ahead again just before the break with Gabriel Jesus heading in Ben White’s dinked cross.

Arsenal were rocked on their heels early in the second half as Elijah Adebayo scored Luton’s second equa­liser soon after half-time thanks to the first of Raya’s mistakes and Ross Barkley benefitted from another error from the Spaniard.

The old stadium was still reverberating from Barkley’s goal when Havertz squared it up on the hour from Jesus’s pass.

Arsenal applied intense pressure but Luton appeared to have sealed a memorable point until Martin Odegaard’s cross picked out Rice who placed a perfect header past Kaminski.

In Tuesday’s other game, Hwang Hee-chan sealed Wolverhampton Wande­rers’ 1-0 win against Burnley at Molineux.

Hwang’s ninth goal of the season settled the affair when he netted in the 42nd minute, teed up by Matheus Cunha after Burnley surrendered possession too easily.

Burnley remain second bottom after an eighth defeat in their last nine games, while Wolves, who recorded a first clean-sheet since August, climb to 12th place.