24 October 2023 , 05:42
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Aaron Ramsdale has poked fun at the speculation over his Arsenal future and his rivalry with David Raya.
Raya, who joined Arsenal on loan from Brentford during the summer, has since taken over Ramsdale's position in the starting line-up. Ramsdale, an integral part of boss Mikel Arteta's side in each of the last two seasons, has been demoted to second choice.
Arteta has publicly insisted that he sees the situation as one where he is able to rotate, but it's understood the Gunners boss and his coaching staff see Raya as their No.1. And that has seen England stopper Ramsdale linked with a potential January exit, with Chelsea mooted as a possible destination.
Both Ramsdale and Raya have spoken about their relationship in a positive manner in recent months, and Ramsdale is remaining positive, even mocking the speculation during a training session at the club's London Colney training base on Monday.
As Raya stepped onto the training pitch on Monday, Ramsdale quickly caught up with him and quipped: "It's alright lads. I'm here. We're together."
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The light-hearted moment followed Raya's shaky performance in Arsenal's 2-2 draw against Chelsea over the weekend, where he was blamed for Mykhailo Mudryk's goal that put Chelsea 2-0 ahead just after half-time.
Arsenal goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale (Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)Gary Neville, speaking during Sky Sports' coverage of the match, was extremely critical of Raya's performance. He declared: "David Raya started his Arsenal career well but then he had a poor Champions League game [against Lens] followed by that first half against Manchester City.
"Now, this game. It's getting hot for him. He's got that look on his face like, 'help'. It's the toughest position to play and certainly when you're at one of the biggest clubs in the league, you're under the most amount of scrutiny - particularly if you're a goalkeeper.
" Mikel Arteta has created that, let's be clear with the Ramsdale and Raya situation. It's unusual but he says it can work. I've never believed it could, and I believe we're seeing in front of our eyes the challenges that exists because now, there is going to be pressure."
"Aaron Ramsdale hadn't done a lot wrong at the start of the season. Raya has now started to make mistakes."
On Monday night, speaking in his pre-match press conference ahead of Arsenal's Champions League meeting with Sevilla, Arteta downplayed Neville's comments.
"I haven't seen that of Raya, I haven't seen that," he said when asked if Raya was feeling the heat. "That's the pressure of playing for big clubs. You have to win and you have to be at your best and you have someone next to you who is pushing you every single day.
"But if we were to go position by position, you would tell me 'what happens with the left-back, what happens with the holding midfielder'. Did you ask Jorginho a question already, Gabriel Jesus there's another question and that's the debate.
"That's the beauty of the game as well and you find you have other options, you're going to make those talks more frequently as well. Errors are part of football and mistakes happen, from defenders, from strikers and from goalkeepers."
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