Most attacking keeper in league' - why Raya is key for Arsenal

Mikel Arteta, Manager of Arsenal, and David Raya of Arsenal embrace at full-time after victory in the penalty shoot out following the UEFA Champions League 2023/24 round of 16 second leg match between Arsenal FC and FC Porto at Emirates Stadium on March 12, 2024

Image source, Getty Images

It was a summer of goalkeeping change in the Premier League.

Ball-playing goalkeepers have been key for the majority over the past few years but this summer saw some shift to taller shot-stoppers who aren't as good with their feet.

Six foot 5ins Donnarumma came in for Ederson at Manchester City, 6ft 4ins Senne Lammens replaced Andre Onana at Manchester United, while Sunderland signed Robin Roefs (6ft 4ins).

But Premier League leaders Arsenal haven't followed the trend as 6ft pass-first keeper David Raya remains their number one - having been a mainstay in the Premier League since moving to Brentford from Blackburn in 2019.

The 30-year-old Spaniard, winner of the Premier League's Golden Glove award for the past two seasons, has started the campaign in fine form - conceding just 10 goals to help the Gunners to the summit.

But why are Arsenal taking a seemingly different approach to others in the league and how important is he to their title challenge?

How Raya's passing nulified Wolves' press

Earlier this season, Arteta labelled Raya 'the most attacking goalkeeper in the Premier League, by far,' and he is always showing for the ball as soon as Arsenal start their attacks.

When teams press high, they are usually trying to achieve one of two things.

They are either aiming to force opponents into uncomfortable areas of the pitch, often towards the flanks, hoping they clear the ball or they aim to press in a man-to-man fashion, looking to directly win the ball back high up the pitch.

In Saturday's 2-1 win against Wolves, the Premier League strugglers pressed Arsenal high with attackers curving their run attempting to force the Gunners to pass to a particular side.

Given the risk of losing the ball in these situations, most keepers play the simple pass in the direction opponents are encouraging them to play into.

Raya's on-ball quality, bravery, and ability to read the situation allows him to take an unorthodox approach.

When pressed in this way, Raya would pass the ball to team-mates on the side with less space negating Wolves' press, who were expecting the ball to be played into the areas they left open.

By subverting their expectations, Arsenal were able to nullify how effective Wolves' press was while finding spaces to play through, given Wolves' now-unsettled defensive shape.

Screengrab from Arsenal vs Wolves this season, in which Raya is passing the ball against the direction Wolves are pressing.

Image caption, As Wolves attempt to squeeze Arsenal to their right, Raya passes it to the left going against their pressure.

How Raya becomes an extra centre-back on the ball

Man-to-man pressing is a common defensive tactic used to ensure the attacking team don't have an extra player anywhere on the pitch.

It can be exploited however when the attacking team uses their goalkeeper as an eleventh player compared to the opponent's 10 outfield players.

Against Arsenal this season, Chelsea applied a man-to-man press across the pitch but Raya's involvement stifled how effective this was by moving into a centre-back position.

Chelsea were stuck between applying pressure on Raya directly leaving an outfielder free or leaving Raya free, knowing his ability to pick a pass.

In the below example, Raya's centre-back positioning drew pressure from Joao Pedro, who had to leave Cristhian Mosquera. Mosquera creeped up the pitch unmarked before Raya clipped the pass into him.

Screengrab from Chelsea vs Arsenal this season showing Pedro pressing Raya and Raya chipping the ball to Mosquera who is free in space in the right back area.

Image caption, Chelsea are marking man-to-man however Joao Pedro leaves his man, Cristhian Mosquera, to press Raya. Raya then finds Mosquera free.

Raya goes long against intense pressure on purpose

Raya's quality on the ball is clear but against man-to-man pressure there are risks with attempting to build out from the back.

For this reason, Raya, who is often the spare man, has the added responsibility of recognising which approach is best at what time.

Bayern Munich implemented an intense man-to-man press against Arsenal in the Champions League this season.

Recognising this, Arsenal opened up space through clever rotations which pulled Bayern's players into unfamiliar zones.

Mikel Merino and Eberechi Eze's movements deeper and wider drew Bayern's defenders out of the back line before the likes of Jurrien Timber, Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli pushed up into the midfield and attacking areas that had been vacated.

Raya's ability to play short under pressure while these rotations took place, before playing pin-point long passes to team-mates high up in the pitch was central to their success on the night.

Picking the right moment to play the pass mattered because it allowed Arsenal to get mismatches high up the pitch.

If Raya played the ball long into Merino, he would be duelling with central defender Jonathan Tah, a closer match than when he found Timber attacking on the halfway line marked by Serge Gnabry.

Screengrab from Arsenal vs Bayern this season, showing Raya's long pass from his own box alongside annotations showing Eze and Merino's movement deeper which as a result drags Bayern's two centre-backs out of position.

Image caption, Attacking players Eze and Merino drop deep when Raya has the ball, pulling with them both of Bayern's central defenders.

Screengrab from Arsenal vs Bayern this season, showing Raya's accurate long pass into Saka who has run into a central attacking position following Merino's drop-deep movement.

Image caption, Raya acknowledges this and plays an accurate long pass into Bukayo Saka who doesn't have to duel with either centre-back here.

Impressive cross claiming allows Arsenal to dominate

We have established that Raya's quality on the ball allows Arsenal to bypass pressing approaches teams implement but his standout qualities don't stop there.

Since 2023, only Emiliano Martinez has claimed more crosses in the league than David Raya (105). He doesn't have the size advantage that the Villa keeper has, so relies instead on his positioning, timing and aggression to put up similar numbers.

Raya's ability to reliably claim crosses emits a sense of calm through Arsenal's team and allows Mikel Arteta to position players like William Saliba and Gabriel away from Raya at corners.

Arsenal's keeper requires less direct protection than somebody like Aaron Ramsdale did when he was Arsenal's number one.

The knock-on effect of having the physically imposing Gabriel closer to opposition players in the middle of the box is that Arsenal can win aerial duels more frequently, particularly when the cross swings away from goal.

Moving players away from Raya also opens up space for him to run and jump into, making his claims easier to execute.

A screengrab from Arsenal vs West Ham this season showing Saliba, Gabriel and Merino's position at a corner away from Raya who has space to come for crosses himself.

Image caption, Saliba, Gabriel and Merino are all impressive aerially and can position themselves away from Raya who is a competent claimer of the ball.

Underwhelming shot-stopping a concern?

Given Arsenal's defensive record this season it is interesting that the bulk of this piece so far has been about Raya's influence outside his shot-stopping.

Arsenal have conceded just 10 goals in 16 games, the least in the Premier League, with Raya boasting the joint most clean sheets with eight.

As a result, you'd assume Raya's shot-stopping mirrors his impressive on-the-ball quality.

According to the data however, Raya has let in 1.42 goals more than expected at this point of the season.

Does this take away from how good Raya is as a keeper?

Elite shot-stoppers are often the difference between a team winning and losing in a one-off game.

Following Arsenal's defeat by Paris-St Germain in the Champions League last season, Arteta spoke about Donnarumma's heroics for the French champions.

"We have two of our front players one v one with Donnarumma, if they score, it's different," said the Spaniard.

"He made the saves like he did against Liverpool and Villa and that's the difference in the Champions League, the margins are so small.'

Raya doesn't give Arsenal this specific quality but, despite this, Arsenal are able to maintain impressive numbers because of their defensive structure and the level of control they exert.

Ultimately, Arsenal concede few by preventing chances and shots from occurring in the first place through the many factors we have highlighted above.

Gianluigi Donnarumma of Paris Saint-Germain makes a save from Gabriel Martinelli of Arsenal during the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 Semi Final Second Leg match between Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal FC at Parc des Princes on May 07, 2025 in Paris, France

Image caption, Donnarumma's brilliance in the Champions League ties against Arsenal last season were the stand-out difference between the two sides.

Do Arsenal need to prioritise a tall shot-stopper?

Raya's ability to keep the ball and help Arsenal build attacks through both short and long build-up results in longer possessions and fewer turnovers, which in turn gives opponents fewer chances to attack themselves.

His ability to claim high balls from set-pieces and crosses ensures attacks are stopped before shots are taken, something that wouldn't show up in the goals prevented data.

His sweeping numbers are impressive too with Raya accurately sweeping 64 times since the 2023-24 season.

Only Robert Sanchez (67) and Jordan Pickford (75) have more in this period, highlighting how proactive the Arsenal keeper is in stopping attacks at source, before attackers can latch onto through balls.

This piece started with Arteta calling Raya the most attacking keeper in the league but interestingly it is these same attacking traits that have helped Arsenal dominate defensively over the last few seasons.