Declan Rice scored with a 97th-minute header to give Arsenal a 4-3 win at Luton to put the Gunners five points clear at the top of the Premier League on Tuesday.

Luton made it an uncomfortable game, disrupting Arsenal’s build-up and punishing more goalkeeping errors from David Raya to make it a tense ending. 

And it contributed to Arsenal now having the most errors leading to goals in the Premier League this season despite a statistically strong defence.

But for the potential frailties, Rice stepped up as he has done several times already this season to take control and head home the decider to take Arsenal’s winning streak to six. 

It felt reminiscent of Arsenal’s run last season, finding ways to win games by any means.

A big factor in the recent performances has been the return of Gabriel Jesus who has transformed the attack with his all-round play. 

His quick throw-in allowed Bukayo Saka to tee up Gabriel Martinelli for the first goal, before he headed the second himself.

Eddie Nketiah’s goalscoring was a valuable asset at the start of the season, but the reintroduction of Jesus has brought the best out of the front five. 

Kai Havertz is another big part of that, combining well with Jesus with his smart runs and aerial presence, and crucially finding his goalscoring touch to score three in his last four games, converting a pass from Jesus this time.  

The win at Kenilworth Road built on the 2-1 home victory over Wolves at the weekend which showcased similar positives and drawbacks for the Gunners.

Arsenal scored two early goals, hit the woodwork twice and created a number of good opportunities, and on another day they could have been three or four up before half-time.

The control was enough to see out the game despite a defensive lapse which let Wolves back into the game.

It feels like defensive lapses have been Arsenal’s main fault when it comes to conceding this season. On this occasion, it was a careless pass in his own box from Oleksandr Zinchenko to gift Wolves a goal. 

Especially when it comes to the Champions League knockout stages, the Gunners will have to figure out a way to cut out these mistakes which seem to be creeping in game after game.

Arsenal travel to Villa Park to face former boss Unai Emery and his fourth-placed Aston Villa on Saturday (5.30pm), before completing the Champions League group stage at PSV on Tuesday (5.45pm).