David Raya knows that if Arsenal are serious about winning the title, they cannot continue like this. They can’t keep getting players sent off the field and that means they can’t keep dropping points. If they want to win that trophy in May, they have to learn quickly and from their mistakes.
William Saliba’s red card at Bournemouth was the third time an Arsenal player has been sent off in the first eight league games of the season, and one that means Mikel Arteta is now without his best defender for Sunday’s meeting with league leaders Liverpool .
The Gunners have won all but three games in the Premier League this season and in all the games they have not won they have dropped to ten men.
Declan Rice received a second yellow card for kicking the ball away against Brighton and they drew 1-1. Leandro Trossard did the same against Man City and they also drew. Then, last weekend, Saliba brought down Bournemouth striker Evanilson just inside his own half and was sent off for denying a clear goal-scoring opportunity and Arsenal lost 2-0.
“We just have to learn from the mistakes we made,” said Raya, the Arsenal goalkeeper. ‘A red card completely changed the game in every game. It’s hard enough to win a Premier League match with eleven players, imagine that with ten players in three games this season! We just have to learn from it and move on because this is not the time to think about it. It happened and that’s all.’
David Raya admits Arsenal cannot continue playing games with fewer men if they want to win the Premier League this season
Wiliam Saliba became the third Arsenal player to be sacked this season when he saw red against Bournemouth
He admits Rice and Trossard were ‘foolish’ for receiving a second yellow card for such harmless, avoidable indiscretions. But he found Saliba’s harsh.
“We try not to get the red cards, especially Declan and Leo,” he adds. ‘They were a bit stupid. Saliba was just trying to do the right thing and was sent off, which in my opinion is just a yellow card.
‘We can think whatever we want to think, but that doesn’t change the fact that we have sent off three players this season. We just have to focus on ourselves and not make mistakes like this.”
They haven’t learned their lessons yet. Saliba’s red card was the 18th under Arteta, five more than any other team this weekend since he took charge.
And because of their poor discipline, they now welcome Liverpool to the Emirates, already four points behind them and six behind Man City, a team you simply cannot afford to fall behind.
They also have to do it without Saliba, who played every minute in the league last season.
“Everyone knows how important Saliba is for us, but we have top players who can play in that position, who come into the match ready for the challenge and who will help the team win the match,” Raya stressed.
Raya calls it a ‘big’ game, which you even have to win. “Every game is a must-win,” he says. “If you want to win things, you have to win every game.”
They are confronted with a Liverpool team that is taking off under new manager Arne Slot. Eleven wins in his first twelve games and the first to win his first six away games. Now he wants to make it seven at the Emirates today/Sunday, at a time when everyone thought Liverpool would be hungover after Jurgen Klopp and the title race would be a straight shootout between City and the Gunners.
The Gunners could end the weekend six points behind Man City and seven behind Liverpool
Raya thinks they are even better than under Klopp. “I think they’ve raised their level,” he says.
Arsenal beat Klopp’s Liverpool 3-1 when the two sides last met at the Emirates in February, thanks to goals from Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Trossard.
With Saka still a doubt for the weekend, Arteta is likely to turn to Trossard to stake his claim as a regular starter.
He’s going into a few difficult days at the back of the game. It was a blind back pass into No Man’s Land that led to Saliba’s red card and he missed a penalty in Arsenal’s win over Shakhtar Donetsk, not to mention his red card against City.
“He has a great attitude,” Raya says. ‘He is a top professional and a top boy. I really don’t think that will be on his mind. He just has to concentrate on doing the right things and you can make mistakes, it’s part of football. Everyone makes mistakes, so I don’t think he’ll think about it too much. “He just has to keep doing what he’s doing because he’s a top player and he’s helped us in a lot of games.”
So wrapped up in the emotion of their win over Liverpool in February, a win that took them to within two points of City, their raucous celebrations were criticized as Arteta sprinted down the touchline after one goal, while Martin Odegaard took the camera off a post-match photographer grabbed. match and started shooting away.
“Just go into the tunnel, you’ve won a game, it’s three points,” complained Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher.
If Arsenal want to have the lead today/Sunday, don’t expect them to come quietly this time.
The Reds arrive in the Emirates in a confident mood, with a record of eleven wins in twelve games in all competitions
Leandro Trossard has a good record against Liverpool, scoring in Arsenal’s 3-1 win at the Emirates last season
“Every win in the Premier League is important and I think we should celebrate every win the same,” Raya said.
‘When we played against them in the second half of the season it was a whopping three points for us and of course that emotion for everyone to win against Liverpool is important and incredible. “If we win on Sunday it will be the same emotions and the same celebrations.”