“He was just putting in a wrong foot, he nearly gave Man City a goal in the first half, he’s becoming too unserious now, he needs to be dropped to the bench”- Arsenal icon Patrick Vieirra blasts Arsenal’s £30M man who was not impressive in the win against Man City this evening

Patrick Vieira was not impressed by £30m Arsenal player during Manchester City win

Gary Neville suggested that David Raya was all over the place in the opening minutes for Arsenal of their crucial Premier League clash with Manchester City.

Neville was speaking on Super Sunday (broadcast on Sky Sports; 8/10; 16:35) as the Spaniard struggled to settle against the Premier League champions at the Emirates.

David Raya continues to hold onto the number one spot. There seemed to be less talk surrounding the 28-year-old’s position heading into the contest, with Mikel Arteta only using Aaron Ramsdale in the Carabao Cup in recent weeks.

It was a controversial call to make the change after the last international break. And Arteta must now be wondering if he needs to do the same again after Sunday.

Vieira not impressed by David Raya

Raya could hardly have looked more nervous during the contest, particularly in the first-half. He flapped at a couple of crosses. And he was poor in possession, giving the ball away early on. He also nearly gifted Julian Alvarez the opening goal when his clearance was chased down just in front of his goalline.

It took just four minutes for Gary Neville to notice that Raya was not at his best as Manchester City had one effort cleared off the line by Declan Rice before Nathan Ake blazed an effort over the bar.

“They should have scored. And the goalkeeper is all over the place in these first few minutes. He gets right underneath that corner. He’s really shaky is David Raya. He doesn’t know where he is,” he told Sky Sports.

Mikel Arteta surely needs to seriously consider a change

To the untrained eye, it did not appear to make a lot of sense to drop Aaron Ramsdale for Raya. Raya was brilliant during his time at Brentford. But it did not appear that the Englishman did a lot wrong.

Raya definitely did improve as the game went on. Arsenal grew into the contest. And the £30 million man was able to show some of his best qualities, picking out some much better passes.

However, few can argue that Raya has been better in this period of the season than Ramsdale had been before he was dropped. So if Arteta really is ready to frequently rotate his goalkeepers, a change between the sticks should surely now be imminent.