David Raya just overtook Jens Lehmann in less appearances (yes, really)

While on one side of the Champions League bracket, Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich play with panache and attacking verve, Arsenal are doing things their own way. On Wednesday night, the Gunners battled to a goalless draw with Sporting CP at home, progressing through 1-0 on aggregate, courtesy of Kai Havertz's last-gasp winner at Estádio José Alvalade eight days earlier.

This was David Raya's 23 clean sheet of the campaign, coming in just 43 appearances, of which eight have been in the Champions League. In total, the Spaniard has made 33 appearances in Europe's premier club competition, conceding just 19 goals and keeping 18 clean sheets, both staggering totals. The latter is a new Arsenal record.

Arsenal goalkeepers with most Champions League clean sheets

Raya's tally of 18 shutouts is now an all-time record for Arsenal in the Champions League, while only Lehmann, Manuel Almunia and Wojciech Szczęsny have accumulated ten or more. When Kepa Arrizabalaga was in goal for the cup defeats against Manchester City and Southampton, the gulf in quality between the two was vast. As the old saying goes, Raya was only truly appreciated in his absence.

With eight or potentially nine games to go, Raya is very much one of the leading candidates to be Arsenal's player of the year. The goalkeeper has racked up more minutes than any other Arsenal player, 3,870 and counting, and has been one of the most outstanding goalkeepers in the country.

David Raya vs Premier League goalkeepers

Raya is very much staking a claim to be the best goalkeeper in the Premier League, if not the world. He is on course for a third successive golden glove, something only previously achieved by Ederson, Pepe Reina and Joe Hart. The Spaniard continues to produce big saves in key moments; his catalogue of jaw-dropping stops is larger than most.

Well, Mikel Arteta is going to need this to continue. Since the North London derby demolition, Arsenal have scored just 13 goals in 11 outings, only netting more than once in games against Chelsea, Mansfield, Everton and Bayer Leverkusen. Thus, if they are going to go all the way in the Premier League and Champions League, Raya will continue to be a major contributor.

Sunday's trip to Manchester City and the upcoming Champions League semi-final against Atlético Madrid are likely to be decided by the finest of margins. In the case of the former, Gooners certainly hope so, fearful of yet another Etihad demolition. If this season ends as supporters hope and pray, Raya has to be among the front-runners to be Arsenal's player of the season, and a Yashin Trophy could be heading his way later in the year too.

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