Alan Shearer was unimpressed with David Raya’s performance against Manchester City
|Arsenal left it late to pick up all three points against Manchester City at Emirates Stadium on Sunday, but Alan Shearer was not impressed with what he saw from David Raya.
The Spain international goalkeeper has become the first choice for the Gunners ahead of Aaron Ramsdale and was also in goal against the Sky Blues.
Raya kept a clean sheet in the 1-0 victory but was hardly tested by Man City and had some nervous moments earlier in the game.
The visitors were close to opening the scoring after he cleared the ball onto Julian Alvarez as the Argentine pressed, but the rebound hit the side netting.
Raya also made an errant pass that sent Declan Rice sprawling and handed City an advantage, but the England international midfielder quickly came to his rescue and made an interception in the penalty area.
The former Brentford man misplaced some of his long passes too, and Shearer believes he was far from his best.
“The only one I thought was shaky at times was obviously the goalkeeper,” the former Newcastle United striker said on the Rest is Football podcast.
“There were times he got caught on the ball that I was thinking “What on earth is happening here?””
Man City registered just four shots all game, with only one on target, and Raya had very little to do with his hands.
However, his kicking was unimpressive and he took unnecessarily long to clear the ball at times.
Fortunately for him, it did not prove costly and Arsenal got the better of their bitter opponents thanks to some brilliant defending.
Raya will need to do better going forward as Ramsdale will be waiting to take back his starting berth once given another chance.
The magnitude of such a high-profile game appeared to have gotten to him, and he will be eager to put in a more assuring performance against Chelsea when Premier League action resumes after the international break.