Ian Wright has called out David Raya for his ‘lack of concentration’ in Wednesday’s win at Brentford after he narrowly avoided a huge error.
The Gunners fell 1-0 behind against the Bees but turned the match around thanks to goals from Gabriel Jesus, Mikel Merino and Gabriel Martinelli, moving up to second in the Premier League and closing the gap to Liverpool.
The result could’ve turned out very differently, though, with Raya almost gifting Brentford a second goal just moments before Jesus’ equaliser.
Raya somehow let Keane Lewis-Potter’s shot slip through his fingers with the ball bouncing agonisingly towards goal.
But the Arsenal goalkeeper reacted quickly, leaping back to claw the ball off the goal line in dramatic fashion.
‘It’s a lack of concentration from David Raya,’ Arsenal legend Wright told Premier League Productions about the incident, before praising the Spaniard for his reaction save.
‘He does brilliantly to recover. You can see the desperation from him. You can see how close it was.
‘That would have been disastrous, especially with the way Arsenal were dominating.’
Meanwhile, Arsenal wonderkid Ethan Nwaneri was handed his first Premier League start in the 3-1 victory over Brentford.
Wright lauded the teenager for his performance at the Gtech Community Stadium and was left impressed that Nwaneri was put on set-piece duties.
‘What we’ve seen from him is his technical ability and great pace,’ Wright added. ‘Plus one of the most difficult things to do, something I probably wouldn’t have been able to do, which is take corners.
‘I remember once I said to Arsene Wenger if I could take corners. He said no, because to put it into an area where so much is riding [on it]… it’s such a difficult skill.
‘When you’ve got players, especially away from home, who can put the ball in an area – that’s perfect. I couldn’t do that.’
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