Mikel Arteta and David Raya have both addressed his mistake in the north London derby, after Arsenal overcame the setback to win the match.
Though Arsenal will be more than happy with a win away to Tottenham Hotspur to keep Mikel Arteta’s side in the title race, the Gunners did make it more difficult than they needed to in the second half.
An hour into the match, Arsenal were 3-0 up and cruising, dominating the play despite already holding a commanding lead.
Yet that all changed after an error from goalkeeper David Raya, whose miskick handed Cristian Romero the ball to make it 3-1.
The remainder of the contest was certainly nervy, with Spurs pulling another back from the penalty spot in the 87th minute. But the team breathed a sigh of relief at full-time, having secured a 3-2 victory.
Speaking afterwards, Arteta admitted he didn’t like the error, but he did like Raya’s response to the mistake.
“I don’t like the principles we applied at that moment, and after that it can happen,” Arteta said. “You misjudge the situation, you try to make the pass and you don’t, and you have doubts. They took advantage of that.
“What I loved is that David picked up Gabriel Magalhaes – who is quite heavy – then he was sensational for the last 20 or 25 minutes of the game.”
Raya went on to make three high claims from crosses in the final minutes, shutting down a few Spurs attacks and ultimately helping Arsenal to the win, even if he did spark the comeback to begin with.
As for Raya’s post-match response to the incident, he said: “Mistakes are part of football and you learn from them. What [Arteta] said (after the game) was just about the character that I showed after the mistake.
“I thought I was mentally very strong and I just forgot about the mistake, I just carried on playing my game and tried to help the team as much as possible. I think I showed that in the last 20 minutes.
“We had gained control until I made a mistake for the first goal. We had to bounce back.”
Raya is still in the hunt for the Premier League Golden Glove, and a clean sheet against Bournemouth on Saturday would ensure that he at least shares it – with two further games to win it outright.