Gary Neville felt David Raya should have done better to protect his goal from that Mykhailo Mudryk strike, as he criticised his positioning.
Chelsea and Arsenal played out a thriller at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, with the Gunners managing to maintain their unbeaten start to the campaign. It was not the best of performances from Mikel Arteta’s men and particularly from David Raya, as the Blues put them to the sword for more than 75 minutes.
William Saliba conceded a controversial penalty in the first half, and most pundits disagreed with the final decision. Arsenal could not break down the Chelsea defence as the Blues went into the break with a slender lead courtesy of the Cole Palmer spot kick.
Early in the second half, Mykhailo Mudryk lobbed the ball over David Raya and into the net to double Chelsea’s advantage. That striker has led to many questioning Arteta’s decision to hand the goalkeeping keys to the Spaniard, as some suggested the former Brentford man looked nervy in the position.
While he has continued to receive praise for his display this season, there is the constant debate about whether Aaron Ramsdale should regain his place in the lineup. The England international missed the trip to Stamford Bridge due to the birth of his child.
Raya also made another error when his pass was intercepted by Palmer but made amends by stopping the forward in his tracks. As things stand, the smallest of errors from the Spaniard will get scrutinised, and that is what Gary Neville did following the draw at Stamford Bridge.
The Manchester United legend spoke to Sky Sports (h/t The Boot Room) and slammed Raya for his positioning for the Mudryk striker. He said, “His position, Raya, is not good enough. He’s far too far forward. That is not good from the Arsenal goalkeeper. That should not end up in the back of the Arsenal net. He doesn’t mean to chip in, but the fact that he can chip in isn’t right.”
With the spotlight on the goalkeeping conundrum at Arsenal, there has to be some perspective about the situation. With each error or nervy moment with Raya, the camera automatically pans to the bench to capture Aaron Ramsdale’s reaction.
With Ramsdale absent for the Chelsea clash, the camera still panned to the bench to capture goalkeeping coach Inaki Cana’s reaction. After the encounter at Stamford Bridge, the calls to bring Ramsdale back have grown. But Raya has not done anything to deserve being dropped.
Meanwhile, Arsenal got back into the game courtesy of an error from Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez. The Spaniard passed the ball straight to Declan Rice, whose curling shot found the back of the net. From there on, the Gunners recovered and managed to equalise through Leandro Trossard.
As for the keeper situation at Arsenal, Arteta is likely to keep Raya in his No.1 spot and Ramsdale on the bench. To add some perspective, goalkeepers, especially those ball-playing types, will tend to make mistakes, but that should not be termed as being nervy by any measure.
