What did Mikel Arteta mean when he said David Raya ‘prevents things we don’t see’?

Questions and answers come and go in press conferences. Some can be mundane, but others can give a glimpse into what a manager is truly looking for.

Two weeks ago, Mikel Arteta was asked about a player in decent form, David Raya. That is not unusual, but the Arsenal manager chose to be fairly vague in one element of his praise for the Spanish goalkeeper.

“What I like about David is the things he does in goal and the things he prevents that sometimes you don’t even see because they don’t happen — because he has anticipated them,” he said. “He had a very challenging environment but I love players with the courage, character and personality that even when it’s like this, they want to be themselves and they push themselves to do that. He has earned the right to be very respected and I’m very happy he’s doing it.”

Raya preventing ‘things’ seemed interesting, so naturally the follow-up was to ask what those things were. With a smile on his face, Arteta replied: “Have a look at the game again, I’m not going to tell you.”

We took the Arsenal manager at his word, so what follows is an attempt to work out exactly what he was talking about. What exactly is it that Raya is doing to prevent things and what exactly is he preventing?

Different themes of Raya’s play have been written about over the season, but recent weeks have provided more context to the decisions he makes. His tendency to put his studs on the ball to draw players towards him and release a free man was touched on after October’s 1-0 win over Manchester City. That day he created tension in the stands but continued to carry out Arteta’s demands.

This has also played a role in opening and closing Arsenal’s more dominant wins of late. If Arsenal start a match with kick-off, they tend to pass straight to the goalkeeper, who then pumps the ball deep into the opposition half. Raya did so against Newcastle United and found Kai Havertz, who set the tone with a secure chest control before Arsenal won their first corner of the game.

A different plan of action was put into play against West Ham United. An emotional game was expected given the return of Declan Rice and West Ham’s two previous wins over Arsenal this season. Rather than feeding into that with a loose ball to immediately compete over, Raya played short upon receiving possession from kick-off. He, Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba kept the ball between themselves, moving Jarrod Bowen around as they pleased for 20 seconds. Once Bowen got support, Raya then put his studs on the ball, drew Bowen in again and released a pass to Declan Rice.

Arsenal had possession for one minute and 29 seconds to start that game, only losing the ball through a loose Jakub Kiwior touch. That theme continued throughout as Raya did not attempt a single long pass (more than 40 yards) in the game. Instead, he played 29 passes with an average length of 19.5 metres. This achieved two things. It prevented the ball from being contested too often and it allowed Arsenal to take the game in the direction they wanted it to go — both key factors in how Arsenal ‘live’ games.

The 28-year-old did similar in the closing stages at Burnley. He distributed the ball nine times between the 80th and 98th minute at Turf Moor. Seven of those were short, one was pinged out to Martin Odegaard in a deep midfield area, and it was only the last one which was launched long. It was already 5-0, but Burnley had no route even to get on the ball and search for a consolation.

His usage was more varied against Newcastle, but Arsenal still took advantage of the extra man during their build-up play. In more patient spells of possession, it created extra space for players heavily involved further down the line in those moves, like with Saliba, Benjamin White and Odegaard below.

Raya’s quick throwing aiding Arsenal attacks has been written about recently. A major factor in this is his ability to claim crosses and this is a key part of what Arteta means when he spoke about prevention.

The Spain international has faced the fewest crosses in his career this season (192) behind the tightest defence in the league. With less than a third of the season remaining, that is on track to be significantly fewer than his previous low of 402 with Brentford in 2021-22. Even so, his percentage of crosses stopped has almost doubled from a then-career best of 8.7 per cent with Brentford last term, to a new best of 15.1 per cent with Arsenal. For comparison, Ramsdale’s rate of crosses stopped stood at 6.3 per cent in 2021-22 and 5.8 in 2022-23. Raya’s rate is also almost five per cent better than the next best in the Premier League, Jose Sa with 10.4 per cent.

Below is an example of this going hand-in-hand with his quick distribution to create Arsenal’s third goal against Crystal Palace.

It was a goal Raya himself called “really important” in taking the game even further out of Palace’s hands. It is another instance of preventing matches from becoming tense contests. In the moment, it also prevents defences from getting set, which gives Arsenal more space to attack. While a lot of this will come down to his technique and his size 11 hands, credit should also go to his defence, who sometimes make claims easier by blocking onrushing forwards.

Raya’s positioning as a goalkeeper also deserves a mention and is likely the most contentious of these points. He was caught out because of his positioning earlier in the season against Chelsea and Newcastle. This was the case again in the late 1-0 loss to Porto, where he was too far across to have any real chance of reaching Galeno’s curling effort that hit the bottom corner of the net.

GALENO WINS IT FOR PORTO WITH A BEAUTY IN THE LAST MINUTE! 🤯#UCL pic.twitter.com/rh3ZUbVtSP

— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) February 21, 2024

It is likely Raya was expecting a cross, as he has tended to position himself on the edge of the six-yard box for deep crosses since he was at Brentford. When the ball is wider, he often takes up a position just beyond the near post. This cost him with Mykhailo Mudryk’s goal in the 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge but has benefited Arsenal with the very few efforts they have conceded in recent weeks.

At West Ham, his starting position was on the near post. As Mohammed Kudus advanced, it was easy for him to close off the forward’s shooting angle, spread and save. Despite it being 6-0 at the time, his defenders still celebrated the intervention as if it was 1-0.

The following week at Burnley, he had a very similar starting position. Wilson Odobert had a slightly better angle, but Raya was still well positioned to swipe the ball away.

His positioning in a more general sense has also helped Arsenal squeeze even further up the pitch in their quest to suffocate teams. This was something Ramsdale was helping with during his two seasons as first choice, as Arteta still deploys very similar pressing structures. Raya has improved on that, however.

Even if it is a marginal gain, this will impress Arteta as it is a contributing factor to more domination.

Just how marginal this gain is can be seen in Raya’s average distance from goal for defensive actions being just two yards further than Ramsdale’s furthest at Arsenal (18.4 yards to Ramsdale’s 16.4 yards). His defensive actions outside the penalty area are the exact same as Ramsdale’s highest tally at Arsenal (1.76 per 90 minutes) — albeit with a third of the season still to play.

Raya is not a perfect goalkeeper – his first six months showed that – but as his confidence has grown, so has his influence on many aspects of Arsenal’s play.

Arsenal will have their own more in-depth metrics to help Arteta make his decisions, but this might be some of what the manager meant when he talked about the things Raya ‘prevents’ with his anticipation.

(Top photo: Marc Atkins/Getty Images)