Mikel Arteta told £30m Arsenal player has looked miles off it in pre-season so far

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Arsenal are edging ever closer to the start of the 2025-26 campaign and have two upcoming friendly matches with Spanish opposition.

Mikel Arteta’s side returned from Asia with two wins from three matches after a disappointing 1-0 defeat to Spurs ended the tour on a sour note.

The Gunners now face Villarreal and Athletic Bilbao at the Emirates Stadium and present the players with the final opportunities to fine-tune their performance before the Premier League opener at Old Trafford.

Max Dowman has impressed fans with his displays so far, whilst new signing Martin Zubimendi has also caught the eye. However, Arteta has been warned about one player not looking himself so far in pre-season.

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Perry Groves believes David Raya has looked ‘shaky’ in pre-season for Arsenal

Speaking to talkSPORT’s ‘Outspoken with White and Jordan’ podcast, former Arsenal star Perry Groves has expressed his belief that goalkeeper David Raya has looked ‘shaky’ so far in action.

Groves stated: “David Raya in pre-season has looked a little bit shaky. He hasn’t looked as confident in what he did the whole of last season.

“There was a couple of corners that he come for, he flapped one, didn’t he? Come out like a big sort of star shape and missed it completely and hit the post where Richarlison should have scored from what about an inch. So yeah.”

Raya was involved in mix-up with Myles Lewis-Skelly that saw Spurs midfielder Pape Sarr score the winning goal from all of 40 yards during the 1-0 defeat.

Kepa Arrizabalaga is relishing the competition with Raya this season and although the Spaniard shared the Golden Glove again last campaign, he will know that Arteta will not think twice about replacing him.

Raya himself earned a spot in the Arsenal side through Arteta’s ruthless actions involving dropping fan favourite Aaron Ramsdale.

Can Kepa Arrizabalaga become Arsenal’s number one goalkeeper?

Arrizabalaga missed the North London Derby through injury but is not expected to be out for a significant period of time.

During the tour Kepa has already impressed Arsenal fans with his penalty heroics in the shoot-out defeat to AC Milan.

Arrizabalaga was not far behind Raya in a number of key statistics last season and was playing behind a defence that was not as secure as the Gunners.

It shows that if Raya does dip in form this season, Arteta has a capable number two that can step into his shoes – something that has eluded Arsenal last campaign.

Neto was signed on loan from Bournemouth but was not at the required level to put any pressure on Raya’s place in the side, it is a very different scenario this time around.