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LONDON, ENGLAND – OCTOBER 21: David Raya of Arsenal fails to make a save as Mykhaylo Mudryk of … [+] Chelsea (not pictured) scores the team’s second goal during the Premier League match between Chelsea FC and Arsenal FC at Stamford Bridge on October 21, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images) Getty Images Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta would have hoped the solidity David Raya showed in his first couple of games could have continued a little longer. Swapped in for the match against Everton the Spaniard was composed. A midweek runout in the Champions League was also navigated without controversy. ‘So far so good’ Arteta would have been thinking in the knowledge those steady displays were leaving sparse opportunity for television bosses to train cameras on the man he’d displaced, Aaron Ramsdale and for pundits to wonder ‘Has the Arsenal manager made the right choice?’ But then came the North London Derby against Tottenham Hotspur, a game that carries more pressure than pretty much any other for the Gunners. Raya started to look like he was feeling the heat, his passes, normally played with such confidence and composure, were nervous and inaccurate. Worse still, as the game developed the Emirates crowd grew uneasy at his having possession. Murmurs of anxiety, the type that only soccer crowds produce, were detectable even to those watching on television. Mikel Arteta’s problem is that this was no one-off, in subsequent matches, against, Lens, Manchester City and Chelsea, Raya has got worse. The game at Stamford Bridge was particularly bad with Raya nearly gifting a goal to Cole Palmer and then being caught completely out of position for Mykhailo Mudryk’s audacious lob. It prompted the visiting Arsenal fans to openly suggest their manager had got it wrong by chanting the name of…

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Filed under: News - @ October 22, 2023 10:58 am