Mikel Arteta hailed the “aura” of Declan Rice after the midfielder scored a 97th-minute winner against Luton to extend Arsenal’s lead at the top of the Premier League.
The £105million summer-signing rose highest to head home Martin Odegaard’s cross and secure a dramatic 4-3 win for Arteta’s side
The victory sees Arsenal move five points clear of Liverpool at the Premier League league summit.
“He’s making a big impact in the team and those moments are special,” Arteta told Amazon Prime. “He has his quality, this aura about him, to create those moments and that will give him even more confidence.”
Arsenal had led and trailed at Kenilworth Road in a breathless encounter. Gabriel Martinelli’s opener was cancelled out by Gabriel Osho’s header from a corner, before Gabriel Jesus restored Arsenal’s lead on the stroke of half-time.
Luton briefly swung the tie in their favour with two goals in the space of eight second-half minutes, Elijah Adebayo heading home from another corner before Ross Barkley’s strike squirmed under David Raya.
Kai Havertz levelled on the hour before Rice secured all three points in stoppage time.
“We knew it was going to be a big battle,” Arteta added, “We made it harder the way we conceded but we showed spirit and the quality in the right moments. We never give up. We take risks, we go for it and we got rewarded big time today.
“It happens, credit to them, the delivery was excellent, the finishing was excellent. They are a really difficult team to beat and it was a tough night.
“You need a lot of points to win the Premier League. It’s a very difficult place to come but to win six games in a row in different ways. Today, you have to find a way to win, even when you have to face uncertain things in your box.”
Arsenal were dealt a blow however with the news that Takehiro Tomiyasu is set to be out “for a while” following a scan on his calf injury.
The 25-year-old was substituted in the second half of Arsenal’s 2-1 win against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday after going down holding his leg and was not in the match day squad for Tuesday’s victory.
“We had a scan and it’s not good news,” Arteta said. “He’s got an injury in his calf and he’s going to be out for a while.”
Arteta meanwhile is set to be banned from the touchline for Arsenal’s visit to Aston Villa on Saturday after he was shown a yellow card for his celebrations following Rice’s late winner.
The booking was Arteta’s third of the season following his yellow cards against Fulham and Chelsea.
“Yeah, I could not be sitting on my seat, unfortunately,” Arteta told beIN SPORTS. “So I left there, I had no spatial awareness at all. It was just pure emotion. So if that’s a yellow. Okay, it’s a yellow.”
Arteta is still waiting on potential retrospective action after being charged by the Football Association (FA) following his post-match comments made after Arsenal’s 1-0 defeat at Newcastle United in November.