Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has insisted that he is the one to blame for David Raya's early errors in Sunday's 1-0 Premier League win over Manchester City.
Having ousted Aaron Ramsdale from the starting XI in recent weeks, Raya was given the nod - as expected - for the visit of the treble winners to the Emirates Stadium this weekend.
The Brentford loanee faced criticism in Arsenal's Champions League loss to Lens in midweek, having seen an underhit pass to Takehiro Tomiyasu cut out before Les Sang et Or's equaliser, and he did not cover himself in glory for Elye Wahi's winner either.
During the opening exchanges against Man City, Raya cut an incredibly nervous figure and was caught in no man's land from a corner inside the opening 10 minutes, but thankfully for the Spaniard, Declan Rice was on hand to clear Josko Gvardiol's effort off the line.
Not long after, Raya dallied on the ball inside his own six-yard box and saw his clearance charged down by Julian Alvarez, but the Emirates breathed a huge sigh of relief as the Argentine's deflection crashed into the side netting.
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Thankfully for the Bees loanee, his mistakes did not prove costly, as Gabriel Martinelli's deflected late winner ended Arsenal's 12-game losing run against the champions and moved them above Man City into second place in the Premier League table, level on points with leaders Tottenham Hotspur.
Raya was brought in to compete with Ramsdale for the number one spot on account of his commendable footwork, but Arteta's decision to demote the England international - who has been integral to their recent rise - was called into question as soon as the Brentford man arrived in North London.
Raya's recent blunders have only intensified the goalkeeping debate, but the 28-year-old was far more composed in the second 45 minutes, as Arsenal nullified the threat of Erling Haaland to shut out Pep Guardiola's side.
Addressing Raya's performance in his post-match press conference, Arteta labelled the ex-Blackburn Rovers man "excellent" and revealed that he instructed the goalkeeper not to resort to route-one tactics against the champions.
"It's my fault, all my fault," Arteta said when questioned on Raya's distribution. "They can pull me up on it because I asked him to do that, especially against this team, you just have to do other things and you get in big trouble.
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"I think he was excellent, the way he dominated his box, the way he came out for crosses and set-pieces, the height that he played at. He's got big ones, because the crowd go like this with the players.
"I've seen it, the players start to kick balls everywhere and I said to him, you don't do that, make sure you don't do it, and he didn't do it. At the end, he got rewarded because the team started the game that we wanted to play much better, so a big compliment to him."
Given the remarkable defensive work of Rice and William Saliba, Raya did not have a single save to make on Sunday, only recording one high claim and one punch while recording a 67% pass accuracy.
The Spain international has now kept a respectable four clean sheets in his first six appearances for Arsenal, including three in his opening four Premier League matches, conceding just two goals in the top flight so far.
Raya will now link up with his national team for October's internationals, as Luis de la Fuente's side resume their Euro 2024 qualifying campaign against Scotland on Thursday before a showdown with Norway on Sunday.
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