Former Wimbledon midfielder Robbie Earle has now claimed that one Arsenal star does not get the credit that he deserves.
Arsenal have maintained an exceptional defensive record this season.
The Gunners have the best defensive record in the Premier League. With 33 games played, Mikel Arteta’s side have only conceded 26 times. No other side in the top flight of English football has let in fewer goals.
The Arsenal defence has been in a class of its own. Declan Rice has played a huge part in this solidity as he has added steel to the Gunners’ midfield contingent. Jorginho’s experience, tactical understanding, and intelligent positioning has also been crucial.
Meanwhile, Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba have been dubbed the best centre-back partnership in the Premier League. However, goalkeeper David Raya may well be deserving of greater plaudits than he has so far received.
David Raya has risen to the task of being Arsenal No. 1
Raya was a controversial signing when the was brought to the Emirates Stadium on a season-long loan deal from Brentford in the recent summer transfer window. Aaron Ramsdale is a fan favourite at Arsenal, and had done little to deserve losing his starting berth. Arteta came in for plenty of criticism for making Raya the new Arsenal No. 1 as the Spanish shot-stopper had some difficult outings in the first part of the season.
However, the 28-year-old has since grown into his role between the sticks and is now an assured and reliable presence at the back. Raya has even been tipped as an outside contender to win the club’s Player of the Season award.
Arsenal are now set to shell out £27 million to sign Raya on a permanent basis.
Does Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya deserve more credit?
Robbie Earle has now heaped praise on the 4-cap Spain international. Speaking on The 2 Robbies Podcast, the pundit said, “David Raya, my friend, is somebody who is not appreciated in the Arsenal team. Let me tell you, he’s not appreciated. They’re defending so well because they’ve got the best centre-back pairing, because they’ve got Declan Rice. They’ve got 13 clean sheets in the season, they’ve got six successive away clean sheets…David Raya…his consistency, his ability to play out from the back under pressure, he comes up with a couple of big saves when he needs to.”
Raya is now on the verge of winning the Premier League Golden Glove award for most clean sheets kept in the season.
It is true that the Arsenal goalkeeper rarely has a high volume of shots to save, as the Gunners are so adept at denying shooting opportunities. However, Raya has a role to play in this too. He is excellent at commanding his penalty area and coming off his line to claim crosses, and he makes use of an aggressive starting position to play a sweeping role behind the backline. His importance to this team should not be overlooked.