Alan Shearer has shared his verdict on how David Raya performed for Arsenal against Manchester City.

David Raya had a challenging afternoon against Manchester City. The Arsenal goalkeeper was particularly shaky early on in the match.

Mikel Arteta has clearly instructed his team to play out from the back with courage and patience. Raya is trusted to take control of the ball and pick his passes.

However, early on against Pep Guardiola’s side, the 28-year-old was persistently pressurised and his radar was off. On one particularly troubling occasion, Julian Alvarez was able to close down the twice-capped Spain international and almost tackled the ball into the back of the net.

The Emirates Stadium crowd were infected by Raya’s anxiety, and the atmosphere in the ground was very jittery in these early stages.

Raya refuses to panic

Former Newcastle United striker Alan Shearer was bemused by the fact that Raya persisted with trying to pull off his short passing game. Speaking on The Rest is Football podcast, he said, “the only one I thought was shaky at times was obviously the goalkeeper. There were times he got caught on the ball that I was thinking ‘What on earth is happening here?’”

Raya did persevere with this style of play though, and slowly grew into the game. In the second half, he was much more assured. His passing was crisp and his long range deliveries were far more accurate. He helped Arsenal to keep possession when they needed to, and offered a route up the pitch when the Gunners sought to get on the front foot.

The Brentford loanee showed great character and bravery to come through this difficult early spell without panicking and stick to his principles in such a massive game. After the match, Arteta was full of praise for the shot-stopper.

Things may have been awkward early on, but by the time the final whistle rang out to confirm a 1-0 Arsenal win, Raya had demonstrated just why he has overtaken Aaron Ramsdale in the pecking order.

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