Ramsdale sent brutal Raya comparison as Arsenal 'issue' emerges for Arteta

Former Premier League goalkeeper Mark Bosnich has given his thoughts on the David Raya and Aaron Ramsdale situation at Arsenal following the latter's start against Brentford. With Raya on loan from the Bees, he was ineligible to feature in Saturday's clash with Ramsdale handed the gloves in Premier League action for the first time since the start of September.

Ramsdale had already kept a clean sheet at the Gtech Community Stadium with a strong performance in the Gunners' Carabao Cup triumph earlier this season, though there were more question marks over his latest appearance. The England international made two errors that very nearly led to goals with his blushes only saved for one by Declan Rice's goal-line block.

Despite the scare, Arsenal were able to prevent Brentford from scoring for the second time this season although Arteta was reluctant to directly address Ramsdale's display. When asked how he thought Ramsdale bounced back from a shaky start, Arteta replied: "This is football. I'm so happy with the team, the way the team performed with the clean sheet. We move on. So happy."

Arteta did go on to compliment his courage and the morale in the team regarding their decision to all hug Ramsdale at the full time whistle following a tough few months. Nonetheless, his initial reaction was telling and during an interview on TNT Sports, a similar response was given with ex-Chelsea shot-stopper Bosnich now weighing in on the situation.

Speaking to Sky Sports about Ramsdale, he said: "This is an ongoing saga, isn't it? Overall I think he did well, but we saw that incident in the first half where [Ramsdale] nearly got caught out. 

That is him basically trying to mimic what he's seen David Raya doing. Quite simply - i.e., he's thinking to himself 'well if he wants me to be like that because that will get me a No.1 spot, then I'm going to play like this'. But for me it's just too risky and they were fortunate not to concede a goal there.

"Overall, he got a clean sheet, he deserved his luck in that situation. But that's the type of conundrum and little bit of an issue that Mikel Arteta has created with this situation. Like I've said time and time again, I think it must be something more than we all know about because last season [Ramsdale] was one of the reasons why they challenged so hard for the title. So it will be very interesting to see against Lens during the week in the Champions League who starts."

"But overall I was happy for Ramsdale that Arsenal got the clean sheet, and like I said, deserved their victory; they're playing some very good football and are going to be there or thereabouts once again come the end of the season." Arsenal are next in action against RC Lens in the Champions League with Raya and Fabio Vieira both able to return on Wednesday evening at Emirates Stadium.

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