Theo Walcott believes David Raya has found his home at Arsenal as the red-hot goalkeeper continues to repay the faith instilled in him by Mikel Arteta.
Raya has turned into a shot-stopping highlight reel so far this season, pulling out world class double saves against Aston Villa and Atalanta to help maintain Arsenal’s unbeaten start to the season.
The Spaniard has been named Player of the Match in each of his last three matches for the Gunners, most recently for his spellbinding display against Manchester City where he made nine saves, eight of which came in the second half as 10-man Arsenal looked to hold on to their slender lead.
While his goal would eventually succumb to a 98th-minute John Stones equaliser, Raya has nevertheless proved a godsend for Arsenal, with ex-Gunner Walcott believing his performances are reflective of his developing love for the club.
“He’s now got a home,” he said, speaking at a KickX community event on Monday. “As a player, it’s really important when you find your home and have a good environment around you and good positive people around you, it feeds into you and you feel like you can’t do anything wrong.
“Hopefully it continues like this. When you see keepers make a mistake, you’re like, ‘ugh’, because if a striker makes that mistake, people don’t say anything. Keepers are obviously really magnified.
“He’s got great defence around him as well, but he commands that defence and he expects standards. Again, that’s fed through Mikel and the trust he’s been put in him now as well.
“I think it’s really fascinating to see. He’s really matured as well, he seems a lot calmer, and I think when you have a calm keeper, it just settles everyone in the whole team.
“He’s in a good space right now and I think he’s one of the best right now. That’s for sure.”
Currently touted as among the best goalkeepers in world football, Raya will likely be crucial if Arteta is to finally pip his managerial mentor Pep Guardiola to Premier League glory after two seasons of agonising second-place finishes.
Arsenal were on the verge of landing the first hammer blow of the title race on Sunday, entering stoppage time a man down but with a slender 2-1 lead at the Etihad thanks to first-half goals from full debutant Riccardo Calafiori and Gabriel.
But as the clock ticked over into the 98th minute, John Stones denied the Gunners a famous win to snatch a point for the defending champions.
While he would have admittedly taken a point at City before a ball was kicked, Walcott has stressed the importance of grinding out wins when fighting for a title.
“I felt City were always going to score at some point, but again, you would have taken that at the start of the season,” Walcott added, with the former Arsenal, Southampton and Everton forward Walcott having become an investor and official ambassador of KickX – the world’s first indoor hybrid football arena.
“It’s just the games against the lesser teams, you can’t afford to drop points because Man City will not do that.
“Arsenal took four points off them last year, but it’s the games when they lost to West Ham and Fulham around Christmas time and then Villa. I know Villa are a good team, but you’re expecting Arsenal to win these games particularly at home.
“It’s one of those where when you look at the overall season, no one will remember how teams have played in each individual game, they just look at results. It’s a sort of results business now.
“You see the way that Arsenal were slowing down the game because they wanted to really dampen Man City’s flow. I understand the club doing that because at times you need to be able to frustrate the other team, you’ve got to play the game.
“The referees will add the time on, it is what it is, but it’s so important for us to just understand it’s all about results.
“Performances are great, of course, but if you play well and you don’t get results, that’s when managers will be under pressure.”
KickX arena opened in July 2023 and offers seven hybrid football formats including the popular Padbol, a mix of football, squash, and tennis and Teqball, a blend of football and table tennis. For more information please visit www.kickxfootball.com
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