Mikel Arteta paid tribute to David Raya for making a big stop in Arsenal’s 2-0 win over Wolves as his side extended their run of consecutive clean sheets away in the Premier League to six; the first time they’ve achieved the feat in the club’s history.
Raya tipped Joao Gomes’ effort onto the bar while the scores were still level – the closest the home side would come to a goal all game – before Leandro Trossard broke the deadlock on the cusp of half-time. The Gunners remained disciplined at the back after the break and wrapped up the win late on when Martin Odegaard scored from a tight angle.
“Very, very good,” was Arteta’s assessment of Raya, who will complete a permanent move from Brentford when the transfer window opens.
“He didn’t concede anything up to that point and we had some very open situations to score goals and we didn’t, and that would have changed the course of the game for sure.
“David was outstanding in that moment to make the save that we needed, and we took advantage [of it]. I think the timing of the first goal was really helpful as well and I’m really happy.”
Raya has kept 13 clean sheets in 27 appearances this season and looks a shoo-in for the Golden Glove award with five games remaining.
“I think he’s been very consistent throughout the whole season and obviously the numbers that we have are proof of that,” added Arteta.
While Raya’s performances between the sticks, and particularly his calmness on the ball, have justified Arteta’s much-questioned decision to drop Aaron Ramsdale, he’s been helped by the near ever-present trio of Ben White, William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes.
Arsenal have conceded six fewer goals than title rivals Liverpool and Manchester City and their defensive record on the road has been eye-catching.
“Very difficult [to achieve], I don’t know when it’s the last time it was done [six away clean sheets in a row], but I imagine it wasn’t recently because it’s extremely difficult to do that.
“Credit to the boys for the level of organisation, for the understanding and especially for the love they show while defending and the platform it gives to the team to win football matches.
“They do [take pride] – the pride in the win, for everything. As a team, you want to be as difficult as possible for the opponent and I think we did that today.
“We conceded a chance, a poor chance, in an individual error, but other than that, I think the team did really well.”
He’s a very good keeper but having White, Saliba, Gabi Mag and Tomi/Kiwior in front of him must help a lot. More clean sheets please for the rest of the season!!!
I think MA made one of the biggest blunders by letting Martinez leave ahead of Leno. Let’s be honest there were 4-5 mis-kicks by Raya in the Wolves game; it is just a matter of time before he gets caught out. Calmness has been used to describe him in the post above with complete bias; however that can be attributed to Martinez the other day without any prejudice. He look absolutely unperturbed by the high pressing done by our team, & kept nonchalantly passing the ball with precision.
Let’s be honest, Raya is going to win the golden glove this year and it is going to drive you berserk.
Let’s be honest, Martinez and Aston Villa will concede about twice as many goals as Raya and Arsenal this season.
Let’s be honest, Raya has proven Arteta more than justified in his defensive decisions this season as we dominate all the stats in that department and currently sit top of the league. It is utterly bonkers that fact bothers some of our fans. 🤣
I loved Ramsdale last year and have come to love Raya this year. Follow the club and love all the players, except Gallas.
👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👊🏾
Martinez left for good money. A decision was made and that was that. At the time I wanted him to stay, but a blunder to move him on, it was not.
Him receiving his golden glove at the world cup made me glad of Arteta’s decision.
He is certainly a good keeper but I do not miss him.
Let it go, Bro. We are all Ramsdale’s fans, too, but Arteta runs the show while we support the players on and outside the pitch.
Arteta must have just a bit of extra satisfaction when Raya or Havertz play great.
I bet he’s on twitter on a burner account straight after the game, clipping up highlights and telling other accounts to go fuck themselves…
Does Arteta have a bit of Mourinho in him? I wasn’t aware.
By the way, Mourinho was asked about who will win the PL? Not even maybe perhaps Arsenal. We really need to win all the remaining games so that we tell them to go…. thenselves.
*fuck
It’s crazy we might finish the season with fewest goals conceded and best goal difference, both by significant margins, and still end up in third place. Would that be the first time that ever happened? Shows you what we’re competing with here… short of some crazy collapse these players deserve credit regardless of where we finish
A but like our “first past the post” joke of an electoral system!
This set of players are great: the City Machine have raised the bar one step too many.
thought we had the best defensive records sometime in the 90s but didn’t win the league either. I think that was Martin Keown’s era.
In Sport the outcome determines everything therefore Raya is great although……
Go support man city
I was not a huge fan of bringing in Raya, but I think he has been a big success. So credit to Edu and Arteta for that.
My only grievance with the transfer now is how Arteta talked about goalkeeper rotation and substituting goalkeepers during games. I don’t know whether that was also the internal message, but it feels disingenuous. I don’t believe Arteta really believed that, and if so, it would have been better and more honest to own up to the fact that he thought he had improved the team in terms of our goalkeeper.
Is it really a grievance? I mean, in retrospect, wouldn’t it make a boatload of sense that Arteta was just protecting Ramsdale in the court of public opinion, rather than admitting he believed Raya to be a superior keeper in playing the style of controlled football that would see us top of the league with a handful of matches to play? What on earth does a manager have to “own up to” with regards to the personnel decisions he makes — that stuff should be handled by professionals in their circle, not in public. Arteta plays the media and his… Read more »
So the mantra goes: defence wins you trophies while attack wins matches. We have laid a solid foundation for a future of trophies through this defence we have built. Next is the attack and an injection of one or two personnels in the middle of the pack would do the trick.