Paul Merson has blasted David Raya for his mistake that saw Arsenal concede against Newcastle last week.
Anthony Gordon scored a controversial winner for the Magpies, which led to Gunners boss Mikel Arteta launching a furious rant on VAR. But while Arteta laid the blame for his side's defeat at the door of the referees, Merson did not agree with the Spaniard.
Instead, the Arsenal legend believes that Raya is costing his new side, having taken the place of Aaron Ramsdale. He pinpointed Raya's fumble of Joe Willock's cross, which led to Joelinton heading the ball onto Gordon to tap in.
Merson was scathing in his criticism of the Spanish keeper, insisting that Raya had 'sold Arteta up the river'. The former attacker highlighted Raya's poor positioning as the reason for the Gunners conceding.
"Mikel Arteta has gone mad, he's writing a letter, this and that. At the end of the day, his goalkeeper has sold him up (down) the river. The goalkeeper should catch that every day of the week," Merson told Sky Sports.
"If you see his position he’s two yards in front of the front post when he crosses the ball. Any other day of the week a goalie comes out, catches that, bounces it and throws it out to his full-back. It’s just covered over, it’s unbelievable. Gabriel kicks an airshot.
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"But that, if you watch his positional play, I’m not a goalkeeper but I played with two of the best goalkeepers you’ll ever see in David Seaman and Peter Schmeichel, his positional play there was unbelievable. It wasn’t even a great cross it was middle of the goal, a little bit to the near post, he should catch that."
This is not the first time that Raya has come in for criticism, with his performances ever since his arrival under the spotlight. Last month he was slammed for his display in the draw with Chelsea, but Arteta made it clear he would be backing the Spaniard.
"I haven’t seen that at all. I don't know, it depends on where that is coming from. Is it someone from football when errors are part of football and mistakes happen from defenders, for strikers and for goalkeepers? For sure, no," Arteta said.
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"There is a pressure of playing for big clubs where you have to win and you have to be at your best, and you have someone next to you that is pushing you every single day. But we can go player by player or position by position.
"You will tell me what's happening with the left-back, the holding midfielder - you’ve asked Jorginho a question already - and Gabriel Jesus is here and there’s another question on that. That’s the debate and that’s the beauty of the game as well and the fact that you have a lot of options is going to make those talks more frequent."
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Consequently, Raya has kept his place in Arsenal's starting line-up, with the 28-year-old keeping a clean sheet against Sevilla on Wednesday. He followed that up with a solid performance against Burnley as the Gunners eased to a 3-1 win.
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