Arsenal fans despair over David Raya mistakes against Luton – and talkSPORT hosts clash over Aaron Ramsdale debate
David Raya endured the second half from hell as his TWO errors saw Arsenal go from 2-1 up to 3-2 down at Luton.
Fortunately for him, Kai Havertz's equaliser and Declan Rice's stoppage-time header gave Arsenal a dramatic 4-3 win at Kenilworth Road.
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Questions will now turn to whether Raya - a summer signing from Brentford - should have replaced Aaron Ramsdale between the sticks.
"Raya's having a shocker," TalkTV host and Gooner Piers Morgan tweeted as he watched his side seemingly give away all three points after leading 2-1 at half-time through Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus goals.
The Spaniard was in no man's land as he failed to collect a corner from the right, allowing Elijah Adebayo to make it 2-2 on 49 minutes.
And eight minutes later it was even worse goalkeeping by Raya as he allowed Ross Barkley's low left-footed shot to squirm under his body and into the net.
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Kai Havertz equalised just three minutes after Barkley's goal and then Rice headed in the winner in the seventh minute of stoppage time in what could be a huge win in their bid to win a first Premier League title in 20 years.
But Raya was still the talking point at full-time despite the win sending them five-points clear at the top of the table.
One fan phoned the Sports Bar on talkSPORT to express his disappointment with the goalkeeper's performance and insists his form is a worry as the club chase that elusive title.
"We can win the title but he's making me nervous. We've got to get the goalkeeper position right - those mistakes are not Premier League level," Hassan told the show.
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Host Jamie O'Hara said mistakes may not have been noticed during Raya's time as Brentford's no.1 but they are magnified in north London.
He even suggested manager Mikel Arteta drop him for Ramsdale, which led to an argument with co-host Jason Cundy.
"You're solving one problem and creating another," Cundy responded, asking what happens when Ramsdale makes a mistake if given the starting slot.
"It's not like a right-back where you can take someone off. Arteta has got to keep going with Raya and be bloody minded.
"If after 15 games you're putting Ramsdale back in then what does that say?"
O'Hara replied: "It says Raya has not been good enough. Arteta would be saying 'I've given you a chance but you're potentially costing me points.'"
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Cundy, though, pointed out this has happened already. "He'd be putting in a goalkeeper that last season he felt wasn't good enough."
Arsenal fan Freddie phoned in on the way back from Kenilworth Road to tell the show he feels Ramsdale would have prevented Luton scoring from a corner owing to his height.
"That corner they scored early in the second half, Raya had no command and I genuinely thought Ramsdale would have got that.
"Arteta has in the past said there were times he wanted to sub the goalie and didn't, which cost us the game - today was a game where I thought Aaron Ramsdale should have started.
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And on Twitter, fans had similar misgivings.
"Embarrassing. Raya so uncomfortable," one said.
"I swear if you think David Raya is a better goalkeeper than a confident Aaron Ramsdale you just don’t understand the game. Pathetic," another wrote.
"David Raya WOW this is impressively awful," a third Gooner added.
"Poor defending but Raya has had a horror show this evening," a fourth said.
After the game Arteta was not ready to blame his keeper.
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"It's not about blaming, we've never done it and we're not going to do it now. It's about how the team reacts to that. I loved that response. I think we can defend much better there, for sure."
Rice's winner, six minutes into stoppage time, was the fourth league game this season in which Arsenal scored a winning goal after the 85th minute having do so against Brentford, Manchester City and Manchester United.
At 96:23, it was Arsenal’s latest winning goal on record (since 2006/07 season) in a Premier League away game.
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"We don't want to draw, we want to win," said Arteta. "That drive, that energy, that risk and that emotion we put in the pitch, you can sense it.
"We should have scored before with the chances that we had. We didn't, but we tried until the end and we got rewarded."