Rice covers up Raya’s miseries and saves Arsenal’s management | Soccer | Sports | EUROtoday

Arsenal have been on the verge of drawing their fourth sport on this Premier League. In Luton. Under the eaves of the previous Kenilworth Road discipline. Under that signal that asserts: “Noble Lawyers: specialists in criminal and family law.” In the provincial ambiance that surrounds the modest membership on the outskirts of London, the crew led by Mikel Arteta suffered from the tenacious protection and the daring stress of Ross Barkley and his teammates, and in addition suffered one other unhealthy night time from David Raya, the Spanish worldwide goalkeeper, misplaced, timid on the high and gradual on the backside, primarily answerable for two of the three objectives that Luton scored on a bittersweet night time for the native followers. When the clock confirmed the 96th minute, when everybody was celebrating the tie as a victory, Declan Rice headed in a lateral cross and made it 3-4. A 3-point objective that permits Arsenal to safe the management of a Premier League bathed in victories whereas ready for his or her pursuers, Liverpool and City, to play this Wednesday.

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Kaminskyi, Gabriel Osho, Teden Mengi, Amari’i Bell, Alfie Doughty, Barkley, Ruddock (Jordan Clark (88 minutes), Issa Kabore, Elijah Adebayo, Townsend (Chiedozie Ogbene (61 minutes) and Jacob Brown

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David Raya, Gabriel, Jakub Kiwior (Zinchenko, 64 minutes), William Saliba, Ben White, Declan Rice, Kai Havertz, Odegaard, Gabriel Jesus, Bukayo Saka and Martinelli (Trossard)

Goals 0-1 min. 20: Martinelli. 1-1 min. 24: Gabriel Osho. 1-2 min. 44: Gabriel Jesus. 2-2 min. 49: Elijah Adebayo. 3-2 min. 57: Barkley. 3-3 min. 59: Kai Havertz. 3-4 min. 96: Declan Rice.

Referee Samuel Barrett

Yellow playing cards Jacob Brown (min. 32), Barkley (min. 43) y Gabriel Jesus (min. 46)

“Above! “Up!” ordered Rob Edwards, Luton’s coach. Unlike Wolves last weekend, shrunken and thrashed at will, the players of this newly promoted team understood that to stop Arsenal they had to short-circuit their game at the start. No backing down. No low blocks. Middle block. Pressure in the center of the field, even higher. Barkley the first. Liverpool’s veteran interior coordinated the advances without the ball to prevent the ball from circulating cleanly between Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard. With supplies cut off between the centre-backs and midfielders, Rice was suffocated and could barely turn without the help of Odegaard, who offered himself but without making significant progress for an hour. Odegaard lacked collaborators. On the board, Havertz appeared as the third midfielder. Reality isolated him between the lines, willingly or not. He was far from the base of the play where his teammates needed him so many times. Arsenal had no choice but to use long balls from their goalkeeper or volleyballs to jump lines.

Not even Martinelli’s goal brought Arsenal out of their stupor. A mistake in understanding between the defenders and the Luton goalkeeper led to a throw-in that Gabriel Jesús rushed to take with all the malice that his voracity gives him. These things make the Brazilian a super player. When he gave the ball to Saka, the Englishman had such an advantage that his serve to Martinelli caused a practically empty-net situation. The 0-1 shock shook Luton. But his players recovered. Not for nothing did they start the day defending the contracts, one point away from relegation. If Arsenal were competing for title glory, their opponents were fighting for the dignity of belonging to the highest professional category.

Dedicated to the goalkeeper

Osho, heading in a corner taken by the daring Alfie Daughty, made it 1-1. The goal energized the public and the team. The match, as so often happens in this Premier League, got out of hand. The opportunities came in droves. Especially in the Luton area, where the visitors managed to make more than 40 touches. Gabriel Jesús, with a header, prevailing at the far post, scored 1-2 to crown a sleight of hand between Saka and White. Arenal should have closed the game at that point, but Raya reopened it right after the break. The Spaniard jumped to take down a corner cross but not even by stretching his arms did he reach higher than Adebayo, who put his head into it. The 2-2 inflamed Barkley. The midfielder, author of a superb game, stole a ball in midfield and left Odegaard and White with the ease of players who measure their rivals while driving the ball. He teamed up with Townsend to distract the defense on the edge of the area before receiving again on the left, cutting in and crossing the shot. The ball, centered, had to be Raya’s. But he slipped under his armpit on the way to 3-2.

A split ball, brilliantly won by Gabriel Jesús, balanced the match again a few minutes later. The Brazilian endured it and scrambled between the centre-backs. Then he enabled Havertz one-on-one with Kaminski and the German pushed the score to 3-3. There was half an hour left. For 36 minutes, Luton fought the last battle. Retreating little by little, due to fatigue, the more he stopped pressing, the more Odegaard thought, and the more Arsenal dominated, which ended up besieging Kaminski. The crowd was chanting a tie when Rice beat Osho over the top and scored the winning goal.

Arteta and his assistants forgot about their screens, their computers, their tablets, and jumped up in shock. The players hugged each other. They hugged Rice. And Rice hugged Raya. The goal was dedicated to him, a victim of the tension generated by a pernicious competition with Ramsdale. The main winner of the day was the trembling Raya.

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