Heartbreak for Luton as Arsenal win seven-goal thriller at Kenilworth Road with final kick

Luton suffered the most cruellest of defeats to Arsenal at Kenilworth Road this evening as £105m summer signing Declan Rice scored with the very last kick of the game to settle a seven goal thriller in the visitors’ favour.

The Hatters had come from behind twice in a pulsating contest in Bedfordshire, before looking like they had done enough to claim what would have been a terrific point against the table-toppers.

Navigating the six minutes of stoppage time played, the clock was well into the seventh when a final ball was slung into the box and there was the England international to send his header beyond Thomas Kaminski and break Town's hearts.

The defeat was incredibly harsh on Rob Edwards' side who had dug in for large periods of the contest, going toe-to-toe with Mikel Arteta's team who came into the match on the back of five straight wins in all competitions.

Ahead of kick-off, Luton made four changes from the 3-1 defeat at Brentford, skipper Tom Lockyer failing to recover from his back injury, although Teden Mengi was able to play.

With the captain out, Alfie Doughty, Jacob Brown, Elijah Adebayo and Andros Townsend came in, Carlton Morris not starting a Premier League game for the first time this season ,as he was on the bench alongside Chiedozie Ogbene and Tahith Chong.

The hosts made a decent fist of the opening 10 minutes, not looking daunted by their visitors' obvious threats and showing far more ambition and purpose than they did at any stage of the first half at the Gtech Stadium on Saturday.

Just when Luton were starting to get their press working and the home supporters began to believe, Town fell behind with a horribly sloppy goal on 20 minutes. Amari'i Bell's backpass was misdirected as a slow to react Kaminski could only pass it out for a throw.

With Doughty and the rest of the defence totally switching off, Saka collected the ball and his low cross was turned in by Gabriel Martinelli, a goal that must have had Edwards furious with the ease at which it was scored.

Gabriel Jesus's low shot was simple for Kaminski, but Luton weren’t behind for long, levelling the scores five minutes later when Brown won a

corner. Doughty swung his set-piece into the box and there was Osho to plant a terrific header beyond the grasp of David Raya and into the net for his first goal of the season and Luton's first goal before the interval since the 2-1 win at Everton.

As they often do, the Hatters looked suspect straight from kick off, Kaminski repelling Jesus's near post blast and then doing even better when Arsenal produced their first real slick move on 32 minutes, sticking out a strong right hand to deny Martinelli.

The Belgian was proving a real thorn in the Gunners side, as he flung himself to his right to prevent Saka from replicating Michael Olie's effort and arrowing into the corner of his net.

Arteta's side then showed just why they are at the summit a minute before half time as Saka sent Ben White on the overlap and his deliciously chipped cross saw Jesus hang in the air to convert a header from six yards.

Mengi tried his luck from distance, getting a terrific connection on his left foot, Raya right behind it though.

After the break, Luton started on the front foot as Doughty's cross caused problems, while on 49 minutes, Townsend's shot deflected behind for a corner.

It was from Doughty's set-piece that Luton restored parity again though, his hanging delivery seeing Raya easily outjumped by Adebayo who cushioned his header into the net.

Luton were then in wonderland on 57 minutes, Barkley starting a move from deep and finding Townsend on the edge of the box. He couldn't quite fashion a shooting opportunity, instead finding Barkley to his left and the midfielder did a simple step-over, shooting low and hard, the ball going straight through Raya and in for what was another mistake, although not a single Luton supporter cared about the error-strewn evening the keeper was having.

With the Gunners only having conceded three on their travels all season, the fact that Town had managed to do that in under an hour was some feat.

Once again though, the Hatters were at their worst when scoring as they they were ahead for just three minutes this time, Kai Havertz having the freedom of the box to poke home the leveller to make it 3-3.

With both sides almost having a breather for a few minutes, Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu strong-armed Saka off the ball and went for glory against the team he supports, skewing well wide though.

Martin Odegaard, famed for his attempts from distance as well, tried to put the Gunners back in front as the visitors began to turn the screw, Osho able to deflect Leandro Trossard's blast over.

Saka thought he had won a penalty with 11 minutes left, after going over under Osho's block inside the area, but the VAR check went with Town and it remained all square.

Now almost entirely on the back foot, Luton were digging in impressively, as although the Gunners were almost toying with them, they couldn't find a way through, the home side's defence getting everything away.

Kaminski tipped a header over, as six minutes of stoppage time were added and with time up, Raya's clearance saw Kabore penalised for an over enthusiastic attempt to win a header.

That allowed the Gunners to load the box for last one hurrah, and after working it short, the ball in saw Rice get up to glance his header into the bottom corner, as Town suffered a gut-wrenching late defeat.

Hatters: Thomas Kaminski, Issa Kabore, Gabe Osho, Teden Mengi, Amari'i Bell, Alfie Doughty (Ryan Giles 88), Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu (C Jordan Clark 88), Ross Barkley, Andros Townsend (Tahith Chong 61), Jacob Brown (Chiedozie Ogbene 61), Elijah Adebayo (Carlton Morris 61).

Subs not used: Tim Krul, Luke Berry, Joe Johnson, Zack Nelson.

Gunners: David Raya, William Saliba, Ben White, Gabriel Magalhaes, Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard (C), Gabriel Jesus, Gabriel Martinelli (Oleksander Zinchenko 64), Jakub Kiwior (Leandro Trossard 64), Kai Havertz, Declan Rice.

Subs not used: Aaron Ramsdale, Eddie Nketiah, Cedric Soares, Jorginho, Reiss Nelson, Mohamed Elneny, Reuell Walters.

Referee: Sam Barrott.

Booked: Brown, Barkley, Jesus.

Attendance: 11,112 (1,151 Gunners).