Former Arsenal striker Alan Smith believes manager Mikel Arteta has found a new number one goalkeeper, and it isn't Aaron Ramsdale.
For Arsenal's past three matches, Arteta has named Spain's David Raya as his number one shot stopper, and this decision has been made despite Ramsdale not making any serious errors between the sticks this season.
If Arteta continues to name Raya in his starting lineup, there is a chance Ramsdale could decide to leave the Emirates in pursuit of regular playing time and this was something Smith discussed in a recent conversation with Lord Ping.
"When Raya was signed by the club, it shocked quite a lot of people. Everyone thought that Ramsdale was a very good goalkeeper and there wasn’t a problem to fix in that position, but Arteta clearly felt differently," Smith said.
"David Raya is his number one now. He sees things in Raya that he doesn’t see in Ramsdale. He must think that Raya has better ability with the ball at his feet and a better passing range. There were times during the match against Tottenham where Raya was standing on the half-way line – he really does take up some advanced positions when Arsenal have the ball in the opponents half.
"I don’t think Arteta will come out and publicly say that Raya is his number one because of the damage that might do to Ramsdale’s confidence, although Ramsdale will know that he (Arteta) prefers Raya.
"If it carries on like this, I think that Ramsdale will try and leave the club at the end of the season. Ramsdale is too good a goalkeeper to be content with sitting on the bench and it is very difficult for any manager to keep two goalkeepers of that quality happy within the same squad. Something will have to give at some stage."
It's likely that Ramsdale will start in Arsenal's League Cup tie with Brentford on Wednesday, and then the goalkeeping battle will continue with Raya in the Premier League when the Gunners travel to Bournemouth this weekend.