Gary Neville singled out an Arsenal player for his “terrible” performance during the match against Manchester City, because “he fell over and over again.”
A brave performance from the Gunners secured them a point on their trip to the Etihad on Sunday, but left both teams behind Liverpool in the Premier League title race after the Reds beat Brighton earlier in the day.
However, one particular first-half performance among Mikel Arteta’s men caught Neville’s attention for all the wrong reasons.
The former Manchester United and England defender was worried about goalkeeper David Raya in the first 45 minutes, especially with his feet.
Neville told Sky Sports: ‘Raya’s kicking has been terrible. It doesn’t help that he keeps falling while he kicks him.
Gary Neville singled out Arsenal player for ‘terrible’ performance against Manchester City
David Raya’s kicks in the first half caught Neville’s attention, and not in a positive way
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“It was a strange first half. Neither coach will be happy with his quality on the ball. Maybe they are waiting for the other to make a mistake.
Former Manchester City goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel told the BBC that the crowd was “very unhappy” with Raya, booing and booing Arsenal’s number one, but added “They think he’s wasting his time.”
Jack Gaughan of Mail Sport gave Raya a match rating of 5.5 and said: “Some difficult moments, including a dropped cross, may have started the build-up better.”
Raya arrived in the Arsenal set-up from Brentford at the start of the campaign and usurped Aaron Ramsdale as the Gunners’ first-choice goalkeeper.
The Spanish goalkeeper has saved 14.9 per cent of crosses into the box during Premier League matches this season, well above the division average of 6.7 per cent.
His aerial dominance has been key for Arsenal to have the best defensive balance in the league, with only 24 goals conceded, and the highest number of goals scored with 70.
Ramsdale is keen to get back to playing Premier League football after being reduced to a substitute role following the arrival of Raya, and Newcastle United have revived their interest in the England international.
Raya came into Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal at the start of the campaign and became the No.1.
Newcastle have rekindled their interest in Aaron Ramsdale after losing his place to Raya
Arsenal are now two points behind leaders Liverpool with nine games left to play, starting with a home game against Luton on Wednesday night.
At the weekend they travel to Brighton, before hosting Bayern Munich in the Champions League the following Tuesday.
