Gary Neville tears into £30m Arsenal player during display against Chelsea

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Gary Neville has slammed David Raya after Chelsea’s second goal in their draw with Arsenal on Saturday, insisting that the goalkeeper was not good enough.

Neville was speaking on Sky Sports (broadcast on 21/10; 18:36) after Mykhaylo Mudryk had initially put Chelsea 2-0 up with a freak goal at the start of the second-half.

If David Raya was hoping to silence those who have questioned his place in the side, he will surely be incredibly disappointed after his performance against the Blues.

Raya is yet to really prove himself as being that much better than Aaron Ramsdale. And he made a huge error for the home side’s second goal at Stamford Bridge, finding himself in no-man’s land as he was lobbed by Mudryk.

Gary Neville criticises David Raya after Chelsea goal

It did not appear that the Ukrainian was looking to find the back of the net himself. And Gary Neville believes that Raya’s positioning was vital in allowing the ball to go all the way in.

“His position, Raya, is not good enough. He’s far too far forward. That is not good from the Arsenal goalkeeper. That should not end up in the back of the Arsenal net,” he told Sky Sports.

“He doesn’t mean to chip in, but the fact that he can chip in isn’t right.”

Mikel Arteta given plenty of food for thought

Raya would nearly cost Arsenal again shortly after. He gave away possession right on the edge of his own box. And he had to desperately scramble across to keep the ball out.

The Spaniard is an outstanding goalkeeper. He was brilliant for much of his time at Brentford. And it says a lot that Mikel Arteta wanted him when he already had Aaron Ramsdale. Arsenal will pay £30 million in total if they sign him permanently.

But right now, he looks to be woefully out of form. Some of his passing is still very good. And he has made a couple of big saves. However, there have been a few mistakes now.

Arsenal are in a position where they will feel that they need to be nearly perfect if they are going to win the title. They will take a lot of encouragement from the way they fought back. But Raya really cost them when Arsenal needed a big performance from their goalkeeper.