David Raya’s punch nearly cost Arsenal in their Champions League win over Sevilla (PA)
Thierry Henry admits he got ‘a little bit scared’ by David Raya’s goalkeeping in the closing stages of Arsenal’s 2-1 win over Sevilla in the Champions League on Tuesday evening.
Raya’s shaky performances have come under scrutiny ever since Mikel Arteta installed the on-loan Brentford goalkeeper as his first choice ahead of Aaron Ramsdale last month.
Despite receiving criticism after his mistakes in the 2-2 draw with Chelsea, Raya kept his place for Arsenal’s trip to Sevilla but showed signs of nerves in injury time when he attempted to punch clear Juanlu Sanchez’s cross but got it wrong and the ball span narrowly over his own goal.
Henry was critical of Arsenal allowing too many crosses into their box in the closing moments and concedes Arteta’s side ‘got lucky’ after another show of questionable goalkeeping from Raya.
When reviewing footage of Raya’s punch in the closing stages, Henry said on CBS Sports: ‘Is it a save? I mean, I stopped breathing for a little while.
‘That’s how it was in the last five, six minutes which I can understand away from home, we talked about it off air that it’s a tough place to go and win or play Sevilla,
‘I just thought at times we were inviting too many crosses and when I saw Raya coming to save that I got a bit scared but we got our luck this time, we got lucky.’
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Meanwhile, former Arsenal defender Martin Keown has called the situation between Raya and Ramsdale a ‘pantomime’, while Michael Owen was critical of the Spaniard’s display against Sevilla.
‘Listen, all eyes are on Raya at the moment. If you’re keeping clean sheets all the time no-one says anything,’ Owen told TNT Sports.
‘But because of what’s happened in the past, every single thing he does we end up scrutinising and saying, “Ooh would Ramsdale have done that?” and, “Ooh should they be playing out in that situation?”
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‘He came for a cross, he went to punch it, he miscued it a little bit and it nearly spun into his own goal.
‘He had a couple of little mistakes in the first half as well trying to play out.
‘But at the end of the day we’re nit-picking and that is a cracking result for Arsenal. I think they’d have been happy coming away not getting beat tonight, but to get the three points puts them in a really strong position now.’
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