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Head-to-head record
Previous meetings: 50
Luton wins: 10
Draws: 11
Arsenal wins: 29
Before earning their first-ever promotion to the Premier League, the Hatters battled Arsenal a total of 48 times, 27 of which saw the Gunners emerge victorious compared to a mere 10 wins for the Hatters.
Another 11 contests ended with the spoils shared, but the match counter has since ticked over to 50 thanks to their pair of Premier League battles in the 2023-24 season, where Mikel Arteta's men unsurprisingly did the double over their doomed foes.
However, the Gunners' enthralling 4-3 win at Kenilworth Road in December 2023 did not come without a gargantuan effort and a last-gasp Declan Rice header, which saw Arteta celebrate so hard that he picked up a suspension-inducing yellow card.
The Spaniard managed to restrain himself at the Emirates later in the same season, though, as a much-changed Arsenal team triumphed 2-0 before Luton dropped straight back down to the Championship.
While Arsenal were walking in a winter wonderland in 2023, it was Luton who came up trumps in a Boxing Day 1991 fixture in the First Division, where the likes of Alan Smith and Ian Wright had no response to Mick Harford's 79th-minute goal.
That narrow success over George Graham's Arsenal extended Luton's unbeaten run against the Gunners at Kenilworth Road to an eye-catching 11 matches - during which time they beat the North London giants on five occasions while drawing another six contests - before that seven-goal bonanza.
Prior to the Hatters' Premier League promotion, Arsenal's last triumph on the Kenilworth Road soil came in January 1984, where Kenny Sansom and Tony Woodcock - the leading scorer in this fixture with seven strikes to his name - propelled Don Howe's Gunners to a 2-1 success.
However, the most famous contest between Arsenal and Luton took place in the Wembley sunshine in April 1988, where the two outfits locked horns in the final of the EFL Cup and would put on a five-goal spectacle for the 95,000-strong crowd.
Brian Stein was the hero for Luton with a pair of goals, including one in the 90th minute after Nigel Winterburn had missed a penalty, to propel the Hatters to a thrilling 3-2 victory, which sealed their first and only top-level honour to date under the late Ray Harford.
Luton would go on to reach the final of the 1988-89 League Cup as well, only to be denied back-to-back titles by Nottingham Forest, but they had already developed a taste for knockout success against Arsenal in the FA Cup.
During the 1985-86 fifth round, the clubs could not be separated after two matches - drawing 2-2 at Kenilworth Road and 0-0 at Highbury - but rather than settle the contest in the first replay, Luton and Arsenal faced off for a third time at Kenilworth Road, where the Hatters would surge to a 3-0 success.
Last 20 meetings
Apr 3, 2024: Arsenal 2-0 Luton (Premier League)
Dec 5, 2023: Luton 3-4 Arsenal (Premier League)
Dec 26, 1991: Luton 1-0 Arsenal (First Division)
Aug 27, 1991: Arsenal 2-0 Luton (First Division)
Dec 08, 1990: Luton 1-1 Arsenal (First Division)
Aug 29, 1990: Arsenal 2-1 Luton (First Division)
Apr 21, 1990: Luton 2-0 Arsenal (First Division)
Dec 16, 1989: Arsenal 3-2 Luton (First Division)
Feb 25, 1989: Arsenal 2-0 Luton (First Division)
Oct 25, 1988: Luton 1-1 Arsenal (First Division)
Apr 24, 1988: Arsenal 2-3 Luton (EFL Cup Final)
Feb 13, 1988: Arsenal 2-1 Luton (First Division)
Aug 31, 1987: Luton 1-1 Arsenal (First Division)
Dec 20, 1986: Arsenal 3-0 Luton (First Division)
Sep 13, 1986: Luton 0-0 Arsenal (First Division)
Mar 05, 1986: Luton 3-0 Arsenal (FA Cup Fifth Round Replay)
Mar 03, 1986: Arsenal 0-0 Luton (FA Cup Fifth Round Replay)
Feb 15, 1986: Luton 2-2 Arsenal (FA Cup Fifth Round)
Feb 01, 1986: Arsenal 2-1 Luton (First Division)
Aug 27, 1985: Luton 2-2 Arsenal (First Division)
Ben Knapton
