Martin Odegaard opened the scoring from a Havertz assist before Daiki Hashioka put through his own net to extend their impressive run to 28 points from a possible 30 in 2024. However, one negative from the victory was that Havertz was cautioned for the 11th time this season and his eighth yellow card in the Premier League, putting him just two away from a two-match suspension. The German was needlessly booked in the 66th minute for diving. “Yeah we have to be careful.

Hopefully he won’t get booked again because we know what happens with the 10th,” Arteta said in his post-Luton press conference. When asked if he was surprised by Havertz’s disciplinary record, Arteta replied: “Yeah. If you told me another player, maybe not, but with him yeah. I will have to go back and look at those yellow cards, but if they are yellow cards then we’ll have to improve because we don’t want our players having that many because we are the best in the league for that.

It’s something to improve.” Havertz has missed just one game in all competitions this season. The 24-year-old has been an integral figure in recent weeks and the Gunners can scarcely afford to lose him as the title race enters the run-in. Before the international break, Havertz had scored in his last four Premier League matches, including the winner in that dramatic 2-1 victory over Brentford.

As for the Gunners, they now sit top of the table and are back in action when they travel to Brighton in the Saturday evening kick-off. Quizzed on whether the feeling of being top of the table is important, Arteta said: “For sure, that means that we are there, that we are really close. We are showing a lot of consistency and quality to be able to be fighting in the positions that we are in right now.”