Danny Murphy has spoken out in defence of Arsenal shot-stopper David Raya.

Former Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy has named one thing about the performance of Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya against Manchester City that he feels has been ignored.

Arsenal recently recorded a long-awaited Premier League win against Manchester City, with a 1-0 triumph at the Emirates Stadium.

Whilst this was undeniably a good day for the Gunners, and a solid performance from Mikel Arteta’s side, much was made of the performance put in by Raya.

The 28-year-old looked particularly nervous in the first half. He was uncharacteristically unconvincing in coming to claim crosses, and was poor in possession, misplacing passes with regularity.

However, the Brentford loanee persisted with his own style of play and grew into the game. He was far more assured in the second half and his distribution improved drastically. 

Murphy makes case for Raya

Now, Murphy believes that Raya’s early struggles against City were not entirely his own fault. Speaking on the FIVE YouTube channel, he said, “I get there’s a little bit of anxiety and criticism early on when he got closed down and stuff like that. But I didn’t hear anyone once talk about – and Arsenal weren’t just nervy because of Raya, right, they were all a bit nervy to play forward and be progressive on the ball – the amount of times he played out and it ended up back at him when you could see he was going to get pressed.”

“On two occasions where he got closed down fast, especially the one where Alvarez nearly scored, they’ve not even passed it back so he could kick it one touch. He’s got to take a touch. Nobody was talking about, I wouldn’t say it was irresponsible, but the lack of courage from the players in the backline to actually once they’ve played it out, you make a pass forward.”

“He got rightly some criticism for his nonchalance. But they were all at it as well. In the first 25, half an hour of that game, Arsenal weren’t as confident as they normally are. So it’s a group thing. And I was pleased Arteta stuck up for him.”

Arteta did indeed come out in defence of Raya after the match. As quoted by the club’s official website, the Arsenal manager said, “I think he was excellent, the way he dominated his box, the way he came out for crosses and set-pieces, the height that he played at.”

The Arsenal defence are still adapting to playing with Raya, as he only recently took Aaron Ramsdale’s place in the starting XI. It will take some time for them to adjust to how he likes to receive the ball.

It would also be understandable if the twice-capped Spain international had been particularly nervous heading into the match against the reigning Premier League champions. Above all, he deserves credit for finding a way to grow into the game and improve as it went on.

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