Gary Neville has heaped praise on David Raya for bouncing back from his blunder against Wolves with a “dominant” performance at Tottenham Hotspur.
Arsenal smashed their north London rivals 4–1 on Sunday to move five points clear of Manchester City at the top of the Premier League.
It was a dominant performance from Mikel Arteta’s side, who suffered a scare when Declan Rice’s error led to a Randal Kolo Muani goal just 24 seconds after Eberechi Eze had given the visitors the lead.
The Gunners stepped up in the second half as Viktor Gyokeres scored twice and Eze completed the scoring with his second of the game – and his fifth against Spurs this season – having notably rejected them to join the league leaders last summer.
It was a big performance from Eze, who scored a hat-trick in the reverse fixture in November, but goalkeeper Raya also earned widespread praise for his display.
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The Spanish international had been heavily criticised in the build-up to Sunday’s derby after his error cost Arsenal two points against bottom club Wolves on Wednesday, but he responded with an excellent performance against Igor Tudor’s men.
Raya recorded three claims, made four saves and two clearances, most notably acrobatically clawing a goal-bound effort from Richarlison off the line late on.
He restored calm to the Arsenal backline, coming out confidently for set-pieces to relieve pressure and launch counter-attacks. On a day dominated by Eze and Gyokeres, he was outstanding.
Raya also earned praise from Manchester United legend Neville, who highlighted Arsenal’s mentality after their damaging result against Wolves days earlier.
“At half-time they may have looked back and thought, ‘How are we in this position?’ because they were so dominant in the game,” he said on The Gary Neville Podcast.
“They caused their own problems once or twice and I was wondering if these mistakes were becoming contagious and would cost a team who were dominant in most matches.
“In the end, it was really important what happened today. It’s too early to feel the real title pressure — we’re not quite in the home straight – but this is going to get really hot when we get into April. Games really do count now and Arsenal have been in a difficult run.”
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Neville then singled out Raya, calling his response to recent criticism “absolutely incredible”.
“I was thinking about it before the game and I singled out David Raya because I think he’s been absolutely incredible – what a goalkeeper he’s been this season and since he joined Arsenal,” he continued.
“But he had all of Thursday and Friday to think long and hard about that Wolves game and listen to the noise. How is he going to respond? Is he going to be more tentative, wobbly and shaky?
“Absolutely not. Look at his body language – he had authority, he dominated his area and caught every cross that came in. It was really important for him today to get back to his mistake-free best, and he made a special save as well.
“Arsenal had a job to do today and they’ve done it. It was a good day for Raya, who has been brilliant all season.”