Was the game against Palace Raya’s best performance so far?
Arsenal walked away 5-0 winners this weekend against Crystal Palace in what was one of the most dominant games we’ve seen from Arsenal all season. Bouncing back from three losses on the trot and putting on a performance like that was something every Arsenal fans has been craving for a while now and finally we have a game with plenty of goals!
One player that really stood out to me was goalkeeper David Raya, who for me, had one of his best games between the sticks since making the loan move from Brentford in the summer. Raya hasn’t had the perfect start to life at Arsenal and has been one of the main talking points all season, with Arteta creating some what of a power struggle between him and Ramsdale. For me, until the game against Palace, he hadn’t really done enough to take Ramsdale’s spot.
But against Palace he looked like a much better keeper, kept calm and composed throughout the game, was quick and good when claiming crosses, his distribution was great, and he looked completely calm and collected throughout the whole match and was hardly challenged throughout the game.
His quick thinking and great distribution lead to our 3rd goal and that’s the type of stuff I’ve been waiting to see from him. He makes a save, is quick to the edge of his box, spots the run of Jesus and makes a pin-point perfect throw to the running striker who then sets up the goal perfectly for Trossard to make it 3-0 and seal the game.
He made one notable mistake but I think it was more a mistake of him getting his foot caught in the grass and the ended up passing the ball out to a Lerma just outside the box. The Palace player took aim and Raya make a terrific save to cover his mistake, and other than that he looked in great form, calm, confident and composed, exactly what you need from a keeper.
We can only hope this form continues and he only gets better and better. I watched a lot of him when he was playing for Brentford, and I haven’t really seen the quality he was showing there at Arsenal, but last night there was glimpse’s of it and you start to realise why Arteta has been so confident in him all season.
Arsenal will face Forest next week and hopefully Raya can keep up the good work, we need him at his very best in this last stretch of the season if we want to win anything.
What’s your thoughts Gooners? Do you think Raya had his best game against Palace.
Daisy Mae