Mikel Arteta has turned a blind eye to the two mistakes goalkeeper David Raya made during Arsenal‘s dramatic 4-3 victory against Luton on Tuesday night.
It comes amid the manager’s comments this season that his goalkeepers are interchangeable, with Raya rising ahead of Aaron Ramsdale in the Spanish manager’s pecking order to start in all but one of Arsenal’s last 11 matches.
On Tuesday, Raya’s performance came under scrutiny, after he flapped at Alfie Doughty’s corner and allowed Elija Adebayo to score an equaliser at 2-2, before he failed to stop a strike from Ross Barkley, allowing the ball to go underneath him.
After the match, Arteta was asked about the two mistakes by an Amazon Prime Sport reporter, who said: ‘There is a lot of talk about the goalkeeper situation at the moment. Is it fair to say two of goals were gifted to Luton?’
But Arteta flatly deflected away from the response, before delivering a frosty response, saying: ‘I am so happy with the team.’
The reporter pressed again, asking: ‘Have you spoken to David Raya?’
But the Gunners boss again, said: ‘I spoke with all of them. They are all jumping. They’re so happy. So I’m a really happy manager today.’
‘It happens credit to them as well,’ he said on conceding three goals and of their opponents.
‘Their delivery was excellent and their finishing was excellent and sometimes we just need to applaud the opponent because they did what they did and a big credit to them because they are a really difficult side to beat. It was a tough night.’
