'Better links with his teammates': Arteta hails Arsenal player who's 'much more composed' now; should play tonight

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has sung the praises of one of his players for how confident and composed he looks at present.

The Gunners boss was speaking to the media ahead of Arsenal’s Champions League trip to Sporting CP on Tuesday night.

Arsenal will look to build on their 3-0 Premier League win over Nottingham Forest at the weekend and bounce back from the 1-0 loss to Inter Milan.

READ MORE: Arsenal think target who’s ‘one of the best’ strikers in the world will move in 2025

Mikel Arteta says David Raya is ‘more confident’ at Arsenal these days

Arteta, speaking on Monday night, was asked whether he had noticed that David Raya is now looking more comfortable in between the Arsenal sticks.

“It’s something natural,” he said. “It takes time to adapt to a new club like ours.

“Even though I thought last season he had a really good season, now he is more confident.

“He understands the system, he’s got his space in the right way and you can tell he’s much more composed.

“He has better links with his teammates and he’s been in great form.”

Raya deemed ‘probably the best goalkeeper in the world’

Raya joined Arsenal from Brentford last season, initially on loan before signing permanently for a reported £27million fee.

The Spaniard was under pressure from the off and made a few mistakes early on in his career at the Emirates Stadium.

This led to criticism of Raya – for instance, ESPN pundit Steve Nicol said Raya’s tendency to flap at crosses could become a problem.

“They’re now thinking crosses into the box, we haven’t got Aaron Ramsdale who is 6ft 4in and a big imposing goalkeeper, that makes a defender’s job different,” he said in October 2023.

“When you know your keeper has got that authority in the box then it makes your job slightly different.

“When you have a keeper who is not particularly good in that area, as a defensive unit you might have to change your mindset a bit.”

However, Arteta stuck to his guns, and Raya has since gone from strength to strength. Indeed, were it not for him, Arsenal probably would have dropped even more points.

Raya’s improvements led to praise from pundits – a few months ago, Gabriel Agbonlahor said Raya is “probably the best goalkeeper in the world at the moment”.