Mikel Arteta has been proved right about David Raya at Arsenal, his strong words were spot on

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Against Chelsea just before the international break, Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya was in outstanding form, producing an understated performance.

In truth, there was little Raya could do about Pedro Neto’s strike against Arsenal, the Portuguese winger was simply allowed too much time to pick his spot and hit the ball with venom.

Otherwise, Raya never looked like conceding, he was immaculately plucking crosses out of the air and commanding his area.

In addition, the Spaniard was also excellent with his feet, providing a stark comparison to Robert Sanchez in net at the other end, who always looked likely to make a mistake.

And despite the controversy surrounding Mikel Arteta’s decision to replace Aaron Ramsdale at the time, his decision has been justified.

Mikel Arteta never wavered in his support for David Raya at Arsenal

To that end, Raya’s Arsenal career didn’t start seamlessly and the goalkeeper was under pressure following one or two errors in his first few months at the club.

Speaking in October of last year, Arteta’s comments defending Raya are now interesting to read, given that goalkeeper is now flourishing in illuminous yellow – a colour he’s making famous between the sticks.

READ MORE: Pep Guardiola’s comments about Gabriel Jesus in 2019 are now very interesting amid Arsenal struggles

Arteta was speaking at his press conference and was asked about one or two recent mistakes by Raya at the time, amid suggestion that Ramsdale deserved to come back in.

Arteta replied: “Errors are part of football; mistakes happen from defenders, strikers and goalkeepers.”

Then asked if Raya was struggling from being in the spotlight and the pressure playing for Arsenal brings, Arteta responded: “I haven’t seen that. I am sure I haven’t seen that at all.

“That’s the pressure of playing at a big club where you have to win, you have to be at your best level and you have someone alongside you who is pushing you every day.

“If we go player by player and position by position, you will say to me: ‘What’s happening at left-back? What’s happening with the holding midfielder?’

“That’s the beauty of the game and that’s the debate as well. And the fact that you have other options is going to make all that talk more frequent.”        

Jack Porter will learn from David Raya at Arsenal

Evidently, Arteta always backed Raya to succeed at the Emirates Stadium – confidence that probably stemmed from Inaki Cana, Arsenal’s goalkeeping coach.

Cana is known to be very influential in terms of goalkeepers Arsenal recruit, one of the best coaches of his kind in the world.

And it’ll therefore be very interesting to see how Cana helps Jack Porter reach his full potential, and extraordinary talent for his age.

Porter is already a record-breaker at Arsenal following his inclusion in the EFL Cup this season.

And given his roots, Porter could be the new Tony Adams success story in N5.