Rob Edwards pinpoints Arsenal's biggest weakness despite Mikel Arteta denial
Rob Edwards picked out David Raya as Arsenal 's weak link after another poor performance from the goalkeeper against Luton.
Raya has become the Gunners' number one this season, taking over from Aaron Ramsdale between the sticks. But the Spaniard has looked shaky and he made two key errors against the struggling Hatters on Tuesday night.
The visitors would claim a 4-3 win thanks to Declan Rice 's last-gasp header, but more questions are being asked of their keeper. First, he got caught under the ball from a corner, with Elijah Adebayo rising above him to head in an equaliser.
Eight minutes later, Raya allowed Ross Barkley's shot to squirm under him as Luton took a deserved lead. And Hatters boss Edwards revealed that his team did everything they could to expose Raya as Arsenal's weak point.
"We wanted to make it uncomfortable for them, as uncomfortable as possible. We will probably have to be different away from home when we play them again," Edwards told Prime Video.
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"But here we've got to use this place as a bit of a leveller and try to make it difficult for these teams and not give them the game they want. We thought we'd have a go, that's what our supporters want.
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Rob Edwards picked out David Raya as Arsenal's weak link ((Photo by Mark Leech/Offside/Offside via Getty Images))"That's our identity. Arsenal wanted a game of order and we made it chaotic at times. I'm really flat for everyone. I'm so proud of the lads. We work really hard on both sides of the game.
"We always have a plan. Arsenal don't give you a lot. We've got really good delivery and we've got people who want to attack it. We do a lot of work on it and more so in the last few months. The players are really enjoying it."
While Edwards certainly believes that Raya's performance was to Luton's benefit, Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta defended his keeper. He insisted that the entire team needed to be better and refused to pin the blame on Raya.
"We have to defend better the situations as a team. There are certain things leading to the goals and it’s not about blaming, we have never done it, and we’re not going to do it now," Arteta said.
"It’s about how the team reacts to that, because it’s going to happen, and I love that response. I think we can defend the goals much better, that’s for sure. It was the two set plays and the goal that they scored, apart from that, it was nothing else.
"We were really efficient in the boxes today and that’s credit to the opponents as well. Today we conceded some goals that we are going to be disappointed with but that’s part of it as well. It’s going to happen and how we react to that, and it was great."
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