Howard was speaking on NBC Sports as many Arsenal fans probably wish to see Aaron Ramsdale come back in after losing his place as the Gunners’ number one.
Mikel Arteta took a major gamble to drop Ramsdale in favour of David Raya earlier in the campaign. And unfortunately, the Spaniard has not yet been able to vindicate the Arsenal boss’ decision.
Tim Howard wants David Raya to keep his place in Arsenal goal
Raya has made a few errors for the Gunners. And he endured his toughest evening yet on Tuesday as Arsenal needed a 97th minute winner to beat Luton.
Raya made two mistakes which led to goals for the home side. And it looked set to cost Arsenal two points in the Premier League title race.
With Aaron Ramsdale remaining extremely popular with the Arsenal fans, you would imagine that many will be imploring Mikel Arteta to make a change ahead of this weekend’s clash with Aston Villa.
However, Tim Howard believes that Arteta should double down and continue to back Raya.
“Yeah, I do. I don’t like the chopping and changing,” he told NBC Sports. “I think goalkeeping is about confidence and about you’re my number one, win or lose, you’re my number one and I stick with you. That breeds the confidence. And that’s something we don’t see. So I hope he does back him.”
Mikel Arteta faces such a tough decision
The good news for Raya is that Ramsdale hardly made the most of his opportunity when he came in against Arsenal. He nearly cost the Gunners. And he definitely looked rusty.
That may allow Arteta to argue that it would not be smart to make another change. Raya is a high-quality goalkeeper. So he may well produce a world-class performance if he does keep his place against the Villans.
However, there is definitely even more pressure on Raya to not make an error against a very impressive Villa side.
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