Mikel Arteta says his yellow card for celebrating Arsenal’s last-minute winner against Luton was worth it - even though it means he will be not be on the touchline for Saturday’s trip to Aston Villa.
Arteta picked up his third booking of the season on Tuesday night after he charged down the touchline when Declan Rice made it 4-3 in the 97th minute.
It means the Spaniard will now not be on the touchline for Saturday’s game at Villa Park as three yellow cards equates to an automatic suspension.
But asked if the booking was worth it, Arteta told BeIN Sports: "Yeah, I could not be sitting on my seat, unfortunately.
“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.”
The win was a huge one for Arsenal as it moves them five points clear at the top of the Premier League. They had looked on course to drop points, after twice taking the lead before being pegged back by Luton, who even led 3-2 at one stage.
Rice was Arsenal’s hero, however, scoring with the basically the last kick of the game to secure all three points.
“Happiness, emotion, love for my players, for the way they try, how much they want to win, everything that they put in,” said Arteta. “Regardless what happens on the pitch and the difficulties.
“This is the Premier League. That’s the beauty of it that, you have to really dig in on merit to win the game and I think we have.”
Arsenal were poor defensively for all three of Luton’s goals, with David Raya especially in the spotlight. The Spaniard was at fault for two of Luton’s goals, but Arteta refused to blame him.
First, Raya came for a corner and got nothing but thin air as Elijah Adebayo beat him to the ball. Eight minutes later, the Spaniard was undone again as he allowed Ross Barkley’s shot to squirm under him.
“We have to defend better the situations as a team,” said Arteta. “There are certain things leading to the goals.
“It’s not about blaming. We have never done it and we won’t do it now. It’s about how the team reacts because it’s going to happen. I love that response. I think we can defend the goals much better for sure.”
