Mikel Arteta has all but confirmed that Aaron Ramsdale will start for Arsenal against Brentford on Saturday, with David Raya ineligible.

Mikel Arteta rarely reveals which players will be in his starting lineups ahead of time, but there wasn’t much point in hiding the fact that Aaron Ramsdale will make the team against Brentford on Saturday.

Arsenal’s first-choice goalkeeper David Raya is unavailable as he’s still only on loan from Brentford, and Premier League rules prevent players from playing against their parent club.

Aaron Ramsdale is the obvious alternative, and Arteta confirmed the player is ready for a start in his pre-match press conference.

“He is fully prepared, he trains really well every day – he is desperate to play like the rest of the boys who haven’t had that many opportunities and Saturday is a great day for him,” Arteta said.

“One of the toughest things to deal with is for players who don’t have the amount of time that they deserve. Not only Aaron, but with many of those, but we have an unbelievable group of players.

“We try to be straight and explain things and be close to them and give them the support that we want.

“Then, when they have the opportunity, at the end they want to contribute to the team the best possible way and that’s what Aaron will try to do on Saturday.”

Ramsdale has made 10 appearances for Arsenal this season, though five of those came prior to Raya’s debut.

The other five starts included two in the League Cup, one in the FA Cup, one in the Champions League dead-rubber game against PSV Eindhoven, and one in the reverse fixture against Brentford.

With no more cup fixtures to come and Arsenal at the business end of the Premier League and the Champions League, it doesn’t seem impossible that this could be Ramsdale’s final chance of 2023/24 to win his spot back without an injury or suspension for Raya.