Fair to say, David Raya was a central figure to Sunday's events in Stratford. As Arsenal battled to a priceless 1-0 win over West Ham, while Leandro Trossard was the match-winner, David Raya equally was too. His save mere minutes before the Belgian's winner, astonishingly denying Mateus Fernandes from point blank range as time seemed to stand still, will go down in Arsenal folklore forever.
Of course, the Spanish goalkeeper was also involved in the match's main incident right at the death. Callum Wilson had seemingly equalised but, on replay, it was clear that Raya was being fouled, not only by Pablo Felipe but Jean-Clair Todibo, who had a fistful of his shirt, too. So, in the end, that was yet another clean sheet for Raya, rubber stamping a third successive golden glove.
Overall, in 145 appearances for Arsenal, his numbers make for very impressive reading.
David Raya's Arsenal statistics
Statistics | David Raya at Arsenal |
|---|---|
Appearances | 145 |
Goals conceded | 111 |
Clean sheets | 65 |
Clean sheet % | 44.83% |
Times conceding 3+ | 2 |
Note: Statistics courtesy of Transfermarkt.
65 clean sheets in only 145 appearances for the Gunners is a very astonishing tally. Meantime, in the Premier League only, his numbers are just as good, racking up 47 shutouts in 106 outings, a clean sheet percentage of 44.34%. Thus, he joins Joe Hart, Pepe Reina and Ederson as the only men to be presented with three successive Premier League golden gloves.
Meantime, another statistic has emerged that suggests the Spaniard ranks among the very best goalkeepers England's top-flight has ever seen.
Premier League goalkeepers fewest goals conceded per game
Goalkeepers | PL goals conceded per game |
|---|---|
Ederson | 0.78 |
Petr ÄŒech | 0.83 |
Jens Lehmann | 0.84 |
David Seaman | 0.85 |
Pepe Reina | 0.90 |
Alisson | 0.92 |
David Raya | 0.93 |
Peter Schmeichel | 0.93 |
Edwin van der Sar | 0.96 |
Mark Bosnich | 0.99 |
Note: Stats courtesy of Statmuse; only goalkeepers with 100+ appearances included.
Of all Premier League goalkeepers to have racked up a century of appearances in the competition, only ten have conceded fewer than a goal per game. David Raya is very much on that list, shipping 157 goals in 168 appearances thus far. Of course, this is somewhat skewed by his time at Brentford, with 46% of the goals he's let in coming while representing the Bees, despite the fact only 37% of his games were in their colours
Well, one could also make the point that Edwin van der Sar's numbers were hurt by his time at Fulham, with the same true of Pepe Reina at Aston Villa, David Seaman at Manchester City and Petr ÄŒech at, well, a not very Arsenal.
Nevertheless, simply looking at Raya's numbers for Arsenal, his 84 goals let in across 106 appearances works out at 0.79 goals-conceded-per-game, sky-rocketing him up to second on this ranking, 0.01 of a goal behind Ederson. Well, this season, the wider world are starting to come to terms with the fact that Raya is indisputably one of the best goalkeepers in the world.
He can add two more clean sheets to his seasonal tally of 18, with Arsenal still set to take on Burnley and Crystal Palace; win both, and they'll be Premier League champions. A shutout in the Champions League Final against Paris Saint-Germain in Budapest may prove even more difficult. Albeit, Raya has accumulated nine in 13 European outings to date, letting in only four goals, so continue that trend and he'll have some pretty big trophies to hoist aloft in his gigantic hands.
