Against Luton, David Raya made a couple of errors that led to their goals. This reopened the debate on the goal keepers again and, despite being top of the league, Sky Sports predictable jumped all over it.
Firstly, Sky Sports show week after week that they are unable to Arsenal being back, and will take any opportunity to paint us in a bad light, try and spread negativity and derail us. And that is what they do in this piece.
The morning after we go top of the league, they dedicate more than 3 minutes of airtime to our goalkeeping situation. The opening of the segment resolved that debate within 30 seconds. The fact they then continued to debate for 3 minutes longer shows they are going out of their way to try and destroy us.
Let’s start by looking at those statistics in full:
Raya has more clean sheets than Ramsdale, but has played more games. So lets turn that into a percentage:
Clean sheets
Raya: Kept a clean sheet 46.6% of games this season
Ramsdale: Kept a clean sheet 46.6% of games this season
Raya leads 1 round to 0
Goals conceded
Raya: 13 goals conceded at 0.9 per game
Ramsdale: 8 goals conceded at 1 per game
Raya leads 2-0
Save percentage
Raya: 65.8% of shots saved
Ramsdale: 61.9% of shots saved
Raya leads 3-0
Pass accuaracy
Raya: 74.3% passes complete
Ramsdale: 65% passes complete
Raya leads 4-0
Errors leading to goals
Raya: 3 errors
Ramsdale: 0 errors
Raya leads 4-1
xG prevented
Raya: -0.8 behind par
Ramsdale: 2.01 behind par
Raya leads 5-1
So of the 6 key statistics Sky Sports presented, Raya leads in 5 of them. So why the need for a 3-minute long debate?
The stats above prove what I have long said about Aaron Ramsdale.
Ramsdale does not make too many glaring errors that lead to goals – although as Theirry Henry pointed out, he has been saved this season by his team mates quick thinking. But he also lets in a lot of goals that a better keeper would have saved.
During the run in last season, there was a constant debate as to “whether a better keeper would have saved that” as we lost leads against Liverpool, Southampton and West Ham. The feeling in the pub was that whilst Ramsdale might not have made a glaring error, another keeper might have made the save.
So we now have David Raya. He makes those saves that Ramsdale does not – which is proven in both the xG prevented this season and last. Raya had a +5.9 xG prevented against Ramsdale with a -1 (for those who do not understand, that means Raya conceded nearly 6 goals less than he should have, whilst Ramsdale conceded 1 more than he should have).
But Raya also makes more errors that lead to goals. And it is these errors that lead to people thinking he is the worse keeper. Let me paint a scenario:
2 goal keepers face the exact same 10 shots
Keeper 1
Saves 8
Concedes 2
1 of which goes down as an error leading to a goal
Keeper 2
Saves 7
Concedes 3
0 of which goes down as an error leading to a goal
Which is the better keeper? Keeper 1 who has conceded 2, or keeper 2 that has conceded 3? It would take a lot of mental gymnastics for you not to answer Keeper 1.
The error leading to the goal is what gets debated, what gets replayed on MOTD, on Sky Sports and on Twitter. Yet over the course of the 10-shots Keeper 1 has conceded less.
Keeper 2 might not have made a glaring error to concede any of his 3 goals, but he also saved 1 less so is making smaller errors that do not get highlighted as much.
And that ultimately is where Arsenal are.
Raya is quite clearly the better keeper, he also makes more errors that lead to goals. But even when you factor those errors in, he still stops more expected goals than Ramsdale.
Back Arteta, back Raya. On to Villa.
Keenos
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 
I believe it’s not that clear cut. There are also other issues that influence how a player is performing. Let me remind all of us about last year’s PFA Premier League Team of the Year. Both Ramsdale and Raya were availabe for selection:
Aaron Ramsdale – Arsenal
William Saliba – Arsenal
John Stones – Manchester City
Ruben Dias – Manchester City
Kieran Trippier – Newcastle United
Rodri – Manchester City
Kevin De Bruyne – Manchester City
Martin Ødegaard – Arsenal
Erling Haaland – Manchester City
Bukayo Saka – Arsenal
Harry Kane – Tottenham Hotspur
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ah yes, david raya had the mighty and world sought after CB such as Ben mee to protect him
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Don`t necessarily disagree with your overall take but my concern is that the situation is making them both worse keepers. Both are too good to be a number 2 and I always think you should have an undisputed number 1.
I`m happy to stick with Raya but if we`re going to do that, I`d let Ramsdale go in the summer. Just don`t think its helping anyone but if the manager is happy then I`m happy. I`ve got total trust in Arteta.
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