Should Ramsdale be starting over Raya?
There’s been plenty of discussion around who Arsenal and Arteta’s number one goalkeeper is, After Aaron Ramsdale started the season playing between the sticks and other than our 1-1 draw with Fulham, hadn’t really stepped a foot wrong, but Arteta surprised everyone in the game against Everton on Goodison Park and named David Raya as the starting keeper.
Raya had a really impressive game against Everton, Goodison Park has been a tough place for Arsenal to go to, having lost a lot the last 4 games against them, Areta starting Raya was a big surprise for Arsenal Fans but were pleasantly surprised by his performance. Looking confident, playing the ball out from the back and helping create more space for his defender to go into.
Since then Raya has started every match except the League Cup game against his loan club Brentford, which Ramsdale started and kept a clean sheet in our 1-0 victory over the Bees and arguably didn’t step a foot wrong all game.
Arteta has been asked many times by the press if the number one spot was final and Ramsdale had lost his spot, but the manager continued to say that the goalkeeper position is always up for grabs and it’s just healthy competition. Which honestly, can be very difficult to control, the keepers position is normally pretty straightforward and there’s normally an out and out number one. Goalkeepers can be hard to keep happy and you want your keeper to be in the best head space and feeling as confident as possible when between the sticks and having the position up for grabs can jeopardise that.
Lately Raya has been starting but just hasn’t looked as confident as he did in the games against Everton and PSV, making a few silly avoidable mistakes that’s made Arsenal fans wonder if Arteta changed his goalkeeper too quickly. Raya is on loan from Brentford with the option to buy at the end of the season and it looks like that’s the plan, but should Arteta really be putting all his eggs in one basket?
Ramsdale has dealt with the loss of the starting spot well and it’s been reported that he’s been nothing but supportive to his teammate Raya, but he is no doubt disappointed to lose his spot after such a heroic performance last season, that saw us almost clinch the Premier League title and got us back into The Champions League for the first time in 7 years.
It should be interesting to see what Arteta does from here and where he draws the line and decides to revert to Ramsdale. Raya could just be trying to find his feet better and getting to know his defence’s movements etc.. But only time will tell.
What’s your thoughts Gooners? Are you happy for Raya to keep his spot or do you think it’s time for Ramsdale to get another shot between the sticks?
Daisy Mae