Arsenal ‘will NEVER win the Premier League with Aaron Ramsdale in goal’, claims Jamie Carragher, backing the decision to bring in David Raya
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- Jamie Carragher claims Arsenal will never win the league with Aaron Ramsdale
- The goalkeeper has competition, with David Raya starting the last two games
Jamie Carragher believes Arsenal would never win the Premier League with Aaron Ramsdale alone, backing the loan acquisition of Brentford goalkeeper David Raya.
Raya came into the Gunners’ squad after the start of the season, and he has played Arsenal’s last two matches, Sunday’s 1-0 league win at Everton and Wednesday’s 4-0 win at home to PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League.
It has led to debates about who the number one goalkeeper at Arsenal is, with both players keen to retain the position as Mikel Arteta’s side fight on multiple fronts.
During Wednesday’s Champions League coverage on CBS Sports in America, ex-goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel asked Carragher if he thought Raya was better than Ramsdale.
The former Liverpool defender replied: ‘100 per cent. Arsenal will never win the league with Ramsdale in goal, no chance. Ramsdale is playing for Arsenal and he can’t even get in the England team.’
Jamie Carragher claimed Arsenal would never win the Premier League with Aaron Ramsdale
Arsenal signed David Raya (L) on loan, and he has started two of their matches in a row
The former Liverpool defender noted Ramsdale was struggling to make the England team too
While Raya’s deal is currently just a loan transfer, the Gunners can sign the Spanish goalkeeper permanently for £27m at the end of the season.
Earlier in the conversation, Schmeichel had expressed confusion over Arsenal’s move to bring in Raya, with Ramsdale already a capable option in goal.
Schmeichel said: ‘I don’t get it, I don’t understand why you want to create a competition situation for goalkeepers,
‘The one thing you want from your goalkeeper is stability. So goalkeepers are playing a position which is very reactive, there’s no proactive action happening, everything you have to do is something you have to do when somebody else is doing something, you have to react to that, you can’t be proactive and go out and create a save for yourself.
‘What you want your goalkeeper to be is stable. Do the job he’s there to do, stop the ball from going in the net. If you’re in a competition situation at some point you’re going to think, ‘I have to prove I’m a better goalkeeper than the other one, I’m going to try this or that’, and if you’re going to try things as a goalkeeper very often it goes wrong.
‘I don’t get this, I think it’s crazy and I think Arteta might just be creating a problem he didn’t need going forward.’
While Schmeichel questioned Arsenal for bringing in Raya, he said he was impressed with the performances the Spaniard made against Everton and PSV so far.
Fellow pundit Peter Schmeichel expressed confusion over Arsenal’s decision to bring in Raya
Raya has two clean sheets in his games so far, adding to the headache for Mikel Arteta
After Wednesday’s win, Raya said Ramsdale would have to ‘fight for the team’ when chosen
The Danish former goalkeeper said: ‘What he’s done is won me over. He’s a very, very consistent, stable goalkeeper who makes very, very few mistakes. The actual goalkeeping, he’s done that fantastic.’
Speaking after Wednesday’s 4-0 win, Raya said: ‘It is a dream come true to play at the highest level so I’m very pleased to make my (Champions League) debut, but the main thing was the result and we got the three points in the end.
‘I’ve just been selected the last two games – that is just the choice of the gaffer, not my choice and when Aaron comes in, he will need to also fight for the team and to win games.’
Arteta now has a choice to make for the North London derby on Sunday afternoon. Ramsdale started Arsenal’s first four games in the current campaign, before Raya’s debut on Sunday at Goodison Park.
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