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After yet another relatively quiet night at the office, David Raya sprang into action. As soon as the referee pointed to the spot at Slavia Prague on Tuesday, Arsenal’s goalkeeper sprinted to the touchline to confer with the coach Iñaki Caña in a routine that began when the pair first worked together at Brentford. No matter that Arsenal were cruising at 3-0 up with five minutes remaining and on their way to a 10th straight victory – Raya was on the verge of creating history if he could save the penalty and keep the team’s eighth successive clean sheet.
In the end, the video assistant referee came to Arsenal’s rescue and the penalty was overturned, although Raya did have to save a simple effort from Youssoupha Mbodji in injury time from Slavia’s only shot on target. It was only the seventh save he has made in four Champions League ties, in which he has yet to concede a goal. Incredibly, since Nick Woltemade scored past Raya for Newcastle on 28 September, Arsenal have conceded only 12 shots on target in 12 hours and 56 minutes on their way to equalling a club clean sheets record established over two seasons in 1903 when they were a team from south London playing in the old Second Division.
Raya’s 50th Arsenal clean sheet in 110 games since joining from Brentford in 2023 took him past the record holder from that side, Jimmy Ashcroft, and the joke doing the rounds among fans has been that the Spaniard could start working from home and still keep a clean sheet. It was also suggested after the 4-0 thrashing of Atlético Madrid last month that he might consider bringing along a book to keep him occupied.
“No, you never know,” Raya said with a smile. “You never know when the other team is going to have a chance. You have to be alert, no matter how we’re playing or how we play. I have to be alert 90, 100 minutes every game.”
Mikel Arteta has no concerns in that regard. “It’s the way he is naturally, the way he trains every single day and the way he anticipates things,” Arsenal’s manager said before Saturday’s game at Sunderland. “David is exceptional at that.”
Raya’s interactions with Caña, who ran his own goalkeeping academy in Barcelona before joining Brentford in 2018, are key to that concentration process. Raya, who has the best save success rate in the Premier League at 84.2% from 19 shots, often consults the 50-year-old during breaks in play to get the perspective of a coach who moved to Arsenal when Arteta took over in December 2019.
Raya has described his role as “the first attacker and the last defender” and said in an interview with Brentford in 2023: “My view from the back is completely different to watching the game from the side of the pitch. From the side you see more. It’s hard for me to speak with those on the touchline because I’m far away, so I use every opportunity I can get. I’ll have ideas in my head. Shall we try this, shall we try that? I want to help the team as much as possible in every way. ”
Compared with other recent outings, Raya was far busier in the first half-hour against Slavia, dealing with crosses and a shot that turned out to be offside, as the Czech champions forced Arsenal back without seriously threatening his goal. As Arsenal began to establish dominance in midfield and pushed further up the pitch, his mobility and distribution came into their own.
According to Opta, the 30-year-old has registered the highest speed of any goalkeeper in the Champions League this season at 31.34km/h and ranks second in the Premier League at 30.14km/h, just behind Dean Henderson of Crystal Palace at 30.27km/h. This gives Raya an advantage when he decides to come out of his area, and his 273 touches in his seven-game run of clean sheets (he was rested for the eighth game, a Carabao Cup tie) illustrate that he does that regularly. There have even been two in the opposition half. One on the left touchline against Atlético almost led to a goal after he lost possession to Giuliano Simeone.
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It was a reminder of the tightrope such an approach can be, although Raya, who signed an improved contract last month, has eliminated the mistakes that initially made his transition to Arsenal difficult as he vied with Aaron Ramsdale to be the No 1. He has put that down to a two-hour heart-to-heart with Caña after conceding three goals against Luton in December 2023, which led Raya to establish a new morning routine that includes getting up earlier and having an ice bath. The 4-3 victory at Kenilworth Road was the last time Arsenal let in three goals – a run of 103 games surpassed among Premier League clubs only by José Mourinho’s Manchester United (107).
There has also been greater focus from Raya on becoming more aggressive in claiming crosses. “Iñaki was one of the reasons behind that,” Raya, who left Spain as a teenager and cut his teeth playing in the National League for Southport on loan from Blackburn, told Arsenal’s website recently. “I was more of a reactive goalkeeper before, but now I see the difference between being reactive – when you wait to make the save – or proactive – when you can stop the attacks happening. You do that either by being high up, or coming off your line for crosses, not trying to stay on your line and make wonder-saves.”
Arsenal are England’s first top-flight team for more than a century to win eight successive matches without conceding in all competitions but face an in-form Sunderland. Raya, who has the date of his Premier League debut for Brentford – a 2-0 win over Arsenal – tattooed on his neck in recognition of his long journey to the top, will not be taking anything for granted.
