Aaron Ramsdale was pretty much the only thing anyone was talking about after Arsenal beat Leicester on Saturday, so how did the best keeper on the planet see his own performance?
Aaron Ramsdale’s performance against Leicester was so good that even the Mail on Sunday and Sunday Telegraph gave him a 9. You can see how he rated here.
After the game, however, Ramsdale was incredibly humble and there appears to be no sign of him running away with himself and letting arrogance get in the way of his development.
“It’s just all about reactions,” Ramsdale told Arsenal Media.
“I was more worried that he was going to reverse it into my corner but as it was a close free-kick, he sort of had to get it up and over the wall and that gave me a chance.
“He couldn’t really whip it like he normally does.
“From then on, it’s about explosion. If you get there, you get there and if not, you don’t. I’ll watch it back. It’s just one of those that can go either way.
“We should have had [a clean sheet] against Aston Villa,” he continued. “It was one of those where they should have been stopped and I made a point about it after the game. It’s a collective – it’s not just down to me and the four lads at the back. It’s for everyone.
“I said that to the attacking lads again today and they were excellent. I just felt like today we weren’t going to get beaten. Even when they had chances, it was me or the lads blocking it, or the strikers closing the ball down.”
After the match, Mikel Arteta was keen to both praise his keeper and advise him to keep his feet on the ground, so to speak. “We invest money in talent and people we believe can be great for the future of the club,” Arteta said.
“We made that decision based on that and Aaron has had some really encouraging performances, and today he had some incredible saves to maintain the clean sheet and he needs to continue to do that. In football you have to play 50 games for 20 years, and this is only the start.”
It wasn’t just Arsenal fans or pundits who were raving about Ramsdale, either. Two of the most legendary goalkeepers the game has ever produced also weight in with their opinion on Twitter:
@AaronRamsdale98 Wow, what a save!!!!
— David Seaman MBE (@thedavidseaman) October 30, 2021
https://twitter.com/Pschmeichel1/status/1454421961568931844
Ramsdale was the undoubted man of the match as his stats show:
- Expected goals conceded 1.93
- Saves 8
- Diving Saves 5
- High claims 2
- Recoveries 13