So, we escaped the Etihad unscathed, the first side to have stopped Megamind’s minions from scoring at home in 57 matches, and the narrative still focuses on how the result might help Liverpool or Man City win the Prem. Fine. You’re only as good as your last result, after all, and we have another one to chase. On paper, we should lay waste to Luton, they who languish in the drop-zone despite points-deductions to Nottingham Forest and Everton. What’s there to fear? Surely, if we can earn a point at the Etihad, we can surely seize all three at home to the Hatters?

If only it were that simple. This is shaping up to be a banana-peel of a fixture. We’ve just come off of a potentially season-defining draw against one of the most-fearsome sides ever assembled—perhaps one of the most-fearsome sides ever legally assembled—and we follow up that up by hosting one of the weakest sides ever cobbled together, one that is so thoroughly decimated by injuries that we ourselves can almost see former shadows of ourselves in them.

The emotional let-down of having earned a draw away to Man City only to host Luton Town FC is almost too vast to be measured. Surely, we’ll waltz our way to victory whilst fielding the kind of squad one might normally associate with a late-stage Wengerian third-round League Cup tie.

Yes, Luton will arrive deprived of no less than nine injured players, plus (minus?) two other doubts, not to mention our own Albert Sambi Lokonga, who can’t play against us. Yes, we’ll come back to the fortress that is the Emirates fresh off of a rousing if not inspiring result at the weekend, ready to thrash an undermanned and potentially overwhelmed opponent—but these are the fixtures that can make or break a season. It’s one thing to share a point with a rival at the top of the table. It’s quite another to drop any against anyone in the bottom half, and quite another again to drop any against anyone fighting to stave off relegation.

In theory, we should lay waste to Luton. In theory, communism works—in theory. In reality, we have to know that, for as low-hanging as this Lutonian fruit is, we simply have to seize it. We can’t take for granted the idea that an injury-riddled, relegation-saddled side is simply going to roll over and play dead for us. If anything, it’s quite the opposite. The Hatters, staring relegation straight in the face, will likely throw everything including the proverbial kitchen sink at us, even if that means keeping all ten outfield players between the ball and their goal as they seek to escape with an away draw of their own.

Simply put, we can”t afford to drop any more points. While I’d like to see some rotation for key players like Saka, Rice, White, Saliba, and Gabriel, we will have to take this match by the scruff and shake it silly. As if putting pressure on Liverpool weren’t enough, Craig Pawson will oversee affairs, all the more reason for us to score early and often so as wrest the proceedings from his incompetent paws.

At a risk of disrespecting our visitors, I do hope that we can put this one to bed early and often with an eye to padding our goal difference in the event that the Prem title comes down to that very stat.

Scoreline prediction? Arsenal 3-0 Luton Town. Share your predictions in the comments-section below!