23-year-old Arsenal player admits he was getting cramp after just 50 minutes against Luton

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Arsenal returned to the top of the Premier League table on Wednesday night after making relatively light work of Luton Town at the Emirates Stadium.

This season, the Gunners are contesting one of the most exciting Premier League title races alongside Liverpool and Manchester City.

Arsenal followed up their solid point in the 0-0 draw at Manchester City with a routine 2-0 win over the Hatters at the Emirates Stadium.

Arsenal opened the scoring in the 24th minute, Kai Havertz squaring the ball for Martin Odegaard to side-foot home after good work from Emile Smith Rowe.

The Hale End graduate then played a part in the second on 44 minutes, cutting the ball back from the by-line and forcing an own goal from Daiki Hashioka.

Smith Rowe has endured his fair share of struggles this season, spending time on the sidelines due to injury but also falling down the Arsenal pecking order.

The 23-year-old was making only his third start of the season, and his first since January. He had played just 20 minutes of top-flight football since the first month of the year.

However, Smith Rowe didn’t let any of that get to him when taking to the pitch against Luton. He was thoroughly impressive, contributing to both of his team’s goals.

Understandably, putting such a shift in after so much time out of the fold meant he struggled with the physical demands later on in the game.

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Smith Rowe told TNT Sports after the game that he was cramping up early on in the second half. He ended up playing until the 85th minute, when Jorginho took his place.

“I was getting cramp after 50 minutes,” revealed Smith Rowe.

“It’s been a tough season, I haven’t played as much as I would have liked but we changed the team a bit today.

“And it was good for not just me but for some of the other boys who haven’t played so much this season.

“We are happy with the three points but maybe the performance wasn’t amazing.”

Keeping a team happy throughout the course of a season, particularly when the stakes are so high and the players are high-calibre, is always a difficult endeavour.

However, having a strong squad meant Mikel Arteta could make numerous changes on Wednesday night and there wasn’t a drop-off in quality.

Smith Rowe will no doubt be pleased with his performance, potentially giving Arteta food for thought when it comes to more game time and his stay at N5.