MIKEL ARTETA HAILED a “special night” for Arsenal after Declan Rice’s headed goal seven minutes into stoppage time secured a sensational 4-3 win against Luton at Kenilworth Road.
Rice climbed to nod home Martin Odegaard’s cross and seal a victory that sent his team five points clear at the top of the Premier League.
That outcome had looked unlikely when Ross Barkley squeezed a shot through goalkeeper David Raya to put the hosts 3-2 up early in the second half and send home fans into delirium.
But Arteta said: “I really enjoyed it, especially the end.
“It’s the incredible thing about football, emotions and the moments that you live together. It was a special night.
“Credit to Luton for the incredible atmosphere that they created and the way they played. They made life really difficult for us. But we found a way to win. The resilience and the the character and the quality showed.
“Playing every three days, and we have to win every game, the demands are there. It’s the way (the players) go about it, how much they want it.
“Today we conceded some goals we’ll be disappointed with. That’s part of it as well, it’s going to happen. It’s how we react to that.”
It was the fourth league game this season in which Arsenal scored a winning goal beyond the 85th minute after similarly late shows against Brentford, Manchester City and Manchester United, with Rice scoring in the 96th minute against the latter.
“We don’t want to draw, we want to win,” said Arteta. “That drive, that energy, that risk and that emotion we put in the pitch, you can sense it.
“We should have scored before with the chances that we had. We didn’t, but we tried until the end and we got rewarded.
The manager would not be drawn on the performance of Raya, who was arguably at fault for two of Luton’s goals.
He added: “It’s not about blaming, we’ve never done it and we’re not going to do it now. It’s about how the team reacts to that. I loved that response. I think we can defend much better there, for sure.”
Meanwhile, Mauricio Pochettino puts Chelsea’s ill-discipline down to the close-season change of rules with the Blues leading the Premier League for yellow cards this season.
Chelsea have amassed 47 yellow and three red cards, following the dismissal of Malo Gusto against Aston Villa in September and both Reece James and Conor Gallagher being sent off in their last two games.
Pochettino highlighted how the FA’s new rules in targeting petulance such as kicking the ball away or dissent is the reason behind his team’s poor record.
Speaking ahead of Chelsea’s clash with Manchester United tonight, Pochettino said: “Today we were talking in the meeting and we showed the clips of the yellow cards. There are too many because they changed the rules this season.
“We touch and we put the ball from here to there, and that is a tic that we need to change.
“We were talking about Nicolas Jackson, the yellow card because of complaining to the referee. The opponent made a foul and didn’t receive a yellow card.
“But you complain about ‘why is that not a yellow card?’ And it’s ‘Oh, yellow card for you’. We receive like this.
“It’s difficult to understand this rule but now the referees want to apply it.”
Jackson’s seven bookings are the most in the league and that tally saw him sit out of the Blues’ 2-0 win over west London rivals Fulham in October.
Pochettino called for his players to be cleverer if they are to avoid picking up similar suspensions.
He added: “We need to be clever and improve in this area. We cannot be silly to repeat, repeat, repeat the same mistakes.
“When we play football, always if you made a foul, if the opponent came to take the ball quick, boom, you touch. Even when you play football with your friends, that happens. It’s difficult to change.”
