Gary Neville thinks Mikel Arteta has done something brilliant at Arsenal in last two weeks

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Gary Neville has hailed the decision by Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta to bring David Raya into the team.

Neville was speaking ahead of the North London derby on Sky Sports (24/9 12:35pm) and reflecting on a very big call made by the Arsenal boss.

Arsenal did some very good business in the summer, with Declan Rice looking like a transformative signing.

The jury is still out on Kai Havertz as he continues to adapt to life at the Emirates, while losing Jurrien Timber to a serious injury is a bitter blow.

However, the final signing of the summer was David Raya with Matt Turner heading out of the door to Nottingham Forest.

The Spanish goalkeeper wanted to play at a higher level than Brentford and never looked likely to sit on the bench all season at Arsenal as Aaron Ramsdale’s backup.

Arteta made the switch against Everton and Neville has praised his decision to introduce Raya.

He kept back-to-back clean sheets in his first two games including his Champions League debut against PSV Eindhoven.

His first North London derby was nearly faultless, but in such tough games, the smallest mistakes can have big consequences.

Neville hails Arteta for Raya decision

Speaking about the goalkeeping situation, Neville said: “Arsenal I think, I’ve got them down as title winners this season, which is ambitious, an ambitious prediction.

“But I just think there’s something here.

“They’ve stopped conceding goals, they’ve only had 10 shots on target against them this season.

“I think [David] Raya coming in is a masterstroke Mikel Arteta. That shows that he’s got that brutal sort of decision-making element to him.

“You know, [Aaron] Ramsdale had done nothing wrong but to bring Raya after obviously they had beaten [Manchester] United after the international break is a big call.”

Raya made a stunning stop from Brennan Johnson in the first half that had Aaron Ramsdale applauding from the bench.

However, he flapped at a deep cross towards the end of the first half that eventually fell to James Maddison who teed up Son Heung-min for Tottenham’s first goal.

There was nothing he could do about the South Korean’s second and he put in a fine performance.

Neville believes that introducing Raya shows Arteta is capable of making some very tough decisions.

It will be interesting to see if he’s got any other big calls up his sleeve this season.