Forget Martin Odegaard and Declan Rice, Ian Wright says Arsenal only beat Brighton because of another player

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Arsenal have secured a 2-1 win against Brighton and Hove Albion, but it wasn’t easy.

The Gunners were comfortably the better side for large parts of the game. They had 18 shots at goal and should’ve converted at least four of their chances, apart from their goals.

Martin Odegaard gave Arsenal the lead with a fine strike in the first half. That was doubled after the break by Georginio Rutter, who couldn’t do anything but put the ball in the back of his own net after a brilliant Declan Rice corner.

Odegaard and Rice were both outstanding, but Arsenal’s saviour against Brighton was David Raya in goal.

Ian Wright says David Raya ‘saved’ Arsenal against Brighton

Raya didn’t have much to do all game.

The Spaniard was barely tested by the Seagulls, but once their goal went in, the momentum of the clash completely shifted.

Arsenal were under immense pressure in the final quarter of the fixture, and Yankuba Minteh came closest to levelling the game.

The Brighton substitute’s strike looked destined to find the top corner, but Raya pulled off what could easily be the save of the season.

That kept Arsenal ahead, and the Gunners managed to hold on to their lead in the end.

Speaking right after the game on Premier League Productions, Arsenal legend Ian Wright said: “David Raya there has probably saved our blushes with that amazing save.

“It’s the problem we’ve got at the moment. For some reason, with the chances we’re making, we don’t seem to be able to take those chances to be comfortable in the game. Then, the anxiety kicks in, and then it feels a little bit basketball-match kind of energy, and then we hold on.

“Gabriel Magalhaes coming back, hopefully, that will settle us down with the familiarity with him and Saliba, but in the main, we’ve won the game, and hopefully we can then settle down and take our chances because I don’t think we’ll get away with that too often.”

David Raya is proving Mikel Arteta right every game

When Mikel Arteta decided to drop Aaron Ramsdale and replace him with Raya, he came under immense criticism.

Several big-name pundits had a go at the Arsenal manager, but they should all be lining up to apologise to him now.

As Ramsdale continues to let in cheap goals at Newcastle, Raya is winning games for Arsenal by pulling off incredible saves.

Even when he has nothing to do in the game, the Arsenal number one helps out massively with his distribution, and he is comfortably the best goalkeeper in the Premier League right now.

Raya is proving Arteta right every single week, and he deserves more praise than he gets.