FA Premier League
LUTON TOWN 3 (Osho 25, Adebayo 49, Barkley 57)
ARSENAL 4 (Martinelli 20, Jesus 45, Havertz 60, Rice 90+7) 

By RICHARD OSLEY at KENILWORTH ROAD

AS grotesque as it may sound, it won’t be long before £100 million is simply the going rate if you want a top quality player in the transfer market. Already, as several teams have found, you can spend £50 million and still be taking a gamble.

The amount Arsenal paid to bring Declan Rice may soon, as detached from the real world as this sounds, soon seem like a bargain. His seamless switch into the Gunners’ midfield has been astounding and already he looks like he has been there for a lifetime. There’s no coasting; while all of his colleagues warmed up in tracksuits at a chilly Kenilworth Road this evening, Rice was in shorts and short sleeves.

A man on a mission, he has been capable of picking this team up when under pressure in this first third of the season – the comeback at Chelsea springs to mind – and drive them on.  And so maybe it shouldn’t have been a surprise that it was Rice who arrived just in time to score a last second header against an industrial Luton Town and claim victory from a seven goal thriller which will live long in the mind.

Embed from Getty Images

It was set up as an opportunity for Arsenal to steer – temporarily, at least – five points clear at the Premier League’s summit. Their title race rivals play tomorrow (Wednesday) and points in the bag was a must against the Hatters.

But they couldn’t have been pushed harder by the hosts, who albeit through two errors from Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya, had equalised twice and led the game for a three minute period in the second half.

To think, the first 20 minutes of this fixture was an uneventful affair, the entertainment and interest from Arsenal fans rooted in reacquainting with a ground where the pitch was once plastic and the Stein brothers waited to cause misery.

But from the moment Gabriel Martinelli opened the scoring in the 20th minute it was box office entertainment. The Brazilian had made the most of quick-thinking from Bukayo Saka and a speedy throw-in taken before Luton had set themselves. Saka broke into empty space before sliding the ball towards Martinelli who angled his shot into the corner.

Luton heads did not drop and a committed performance saw them break up play with a catalogue of fouls, although only two resulted in yellow cards. The danger was always likely to come from a corner and Arsenal had not been ahead for long when Alfie Doughty’s swinging centre was headed back into the far corner by a jubilant Gabriel Osho.

The fouls kept coming: Saka, Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus will all wake tomorrow with sore ankles. Maybe the rough stuff only inspired Jesus more and he hung in the air to head home Ben White’s cross to restore the lead just before the break.

Again Luton refused to slow down and the crashing tackles continued after the interval. If they were intimidating, perhaps it would be best to ask Raya, who was wobbly when another Doughty corner came flying across the goal and Elijah Adebayo made the most of his uncertainty by stealing in front to head a simple routine set-piece into the net for 2-2.

There was worse to come for Raya. Ross Barkley cracked a low shot in his direction shortly before the hour mark. It was hardly a world-beating effort, but the ball slid through his body like he was made of water. Luton were ahead and once again fans were wondering why Mikel Arteta has created such a soap opera around the position between the sticks.

Aaron Ramsdale was shown great love by the fans behind the goal as he trained with Raya before kick off but both men look fragile in what is supposedly an empowering duel to claim the gloves. Competition driving up standards? The performance graphs are going in the other direction.

In fact everybody was making the same joke by reviving Arteta’s old comments that he would not rule out rotating his keepers with in-game substitutions. If he was really serious about that silly suggestion, then tonight would’ve been an obvious case. It was fortunate that Raya, looking a little shocked, was hardly tested again.
Embed from Getty Images

The final half hour belonged to the league leaders. Kai Havertz swiftly drew them level from close range after an assist from Jesus.

Amid the domination of the ball, Saka and Martin Odegaard stood out for the way they kept the ball rolling, and it was Odegaard who with the final cross of the game dug out a peach of a ball for Rice to throw his head at.

His connection sent it spinning into the bottom corner and the fans up on the Thameslink danced in scenes reminiscent of those that met the retrieval of a win at home to Bournemouth last season.

It’s easy to say this last-gasp collection of winning points was the mark of champions. Maybe it is, but there were lessons that will need to be learned, and the immediate priority must be treating the self-inflicted goalkeeper chaos at Arsenal.

Aston Villa, who have the best goalkeeper at the World Cup, that former Arsenal stopper Emiliano Martinez, will be waiting for the chance to taunt who ever plays in goal when they collide on Saturday evening.

For now though, simply enjoy the Declan drama.

LUTON TOWN: Kaminsiki, Mengi, Osho, Bell, Kabore, Doughty (Giles 88), Mpanzu (Clark 88), Barkley, Townsend (Ogbene 61), Brown (Chong 61), Adebayo (Morris 61)
SUBS NOT USED: Berry, Johnson, Krul, Nelson

ARSENAL: Raya, White, Kiwior (Zinchenko 64), Gabriel, Saliba, Rice, Odegaard, Havertz, Saka, Martinelli (Trossard 64), Jesus
SUBS NOT USED: Ramsdale, Cedric Soares, Elneny, Jorginho, Nelson, Nketiah, Walters