Raya backed to beat Ramsdale to Arsenal starting spot
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta admits he does not have a clue how to prevent his side from conceding early in games. Goalkeeper David Raya made his only save within the first 60 seconds of the Gunners’ 4-0 win over PSV in the Champions League last week – continuing a familiar trend.
Arteta’s side have become too used to conceding early goals at the Emirates Stadium. In their last 10 Premier League home fixtures, the opposition have scored three goals inside the first minute.
It is a trend that Arteta would rather not discuss. The Spaniard pointed out similar quirks during his four-year tenure – such a spate of red cards and a lack of clean sheets – that got worse the more they were discussed.
Arteta revealed he does not know how to stop his side from conceding early chances, claiming he has ‘no answers’. “I don’t have a clue. That is the reality with certain things,” he said when asked about the trend.
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“We used to have a lot of people being sent off. And we used to always talk about it a lot. But the more we talked, the more we made it worse.
“And then we needed to keep more clean sheets. So we stopped saying about that and then we just get a first clean sheet in 13 games. So, I really don’t have the answer yet.”
He added: “I noticed [the trend]. And I didn’t like it.
“We have to react and we have to be sharper and more on it. Right from the beginning, especially at home, with what has happened there a few times.”
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Arteta’s major decision ahead of Spurs’ visit will be to decide whether to stick with Raya in goal or revert to Aaron Ramsdale. The latter was the undisputed No 1 until Spaniard Raya arrived in the summer, with the Arsenal boss making the surprise decision to bench Ramsdale for the last two games.
Arteta insists that the changes have purely been tactical and that he does not have a preferred goalkeeper. But that argument will be difficult to justify if Raya starts a third consecutive game, especially one as big as the north London derby.
“He has been very supportive and really good around the place and that is what I expect from every single player as when you are on the field, there is someone else who is not,” Arteta said of Ramsdale’s reaction to being dropped. “So it goes both ways. So far he has been really, really good.”
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