- The Gunners face Liverpool at the Emirates in the marquee clash of the weekend
- Mikel Arteta’s side could end the weekend seven points off the top of the league
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David Raya knows that if Arsenal are serious about winning the title, they can’t go on like this. They can’t keep having players sent off and they can’t keep dropping points because of it. If they are to lift that trophy come May, they must learn from their mistakes and quickly.
William Saliba’s red card at Bournemouth was the third time an Arsenal player has seen red in the first eight league games of the season, and one that now leaves Mikel Arteta without his best defender for Sunday’s meeting with leaders Liverpool.
The Gunners have won all but three of their Premier League matches this season and, in each of the ones they haven’t, they have gone down to 10 men.
Declan Rice got a second yellow for kicking the ball away against Brighton and they drew 1-1. Leandro Trossard did the same against Man City and they drew that one too. Then, last weekend, Saliba hauled down Bournemouth striker Evanilson just inside his own half and was sent off for denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity and Arsenal lost 2-0.
‘We just need to learn from the mistakes we have made,’ says Raya, the Arsenal goalkeeper. ‘A red card changed the contest completely in every game. It is hard enough to win a game in the Premier League with 11 players, imagine it with 10 players in three games this season! We just have to learn from it and move forward because now is not the time to think about it. It happened and that’s it.’
He admits that Rice and Trossard were ‘silly’ for picking up second yellow cards for such innocuous, avoidable, indiscretions. Saliba’s, though, he felt was harsh.
‘We’re not trying to get the red cards, especially Declan’s and Leo’s,’ he adds. ‘They were a little bit silly. Saliba was just trying to do the right thing and got sent off which, in my opinion, is just a yellow.
‘We can think whatever we want to think but that’s not going to change that we’ve had three players sent off this season. We just need to focus on ourselves and don’t make those type of mistakes.’
They have not learned their lessons yet. Saliba’s red card was their 18th under Arteta, five more than any other side ahead of this weekend since he took charge.
And because of their ill-discipline, they now welcome Liverpool to the Emirates already four points adrift of them and six behind Man City , a side you simply cannot afford to fall behind.
They must do it, too, without Saliba, who played every minute in the league last season.
‘Everyone knows how important Saliba is for us but we have got top players who can play in that position who will come into the game and be ready for the challenge and to help the team to win the game,’ insists Raya.
Raya calls it a ‘massive’ game, must-win even. ‘Every game is a must-win,’ he says. ‘If you want to win things, you have to win every game.’
They face a Liverpool side soaring under new manager Arne Slot. Eleven wins in his first 12 games and the first to win his first six away games, now looking to make it seven at the Emirates today/on Sunday at a time when everyone thought Liverpool might suffer a post-Jurgen Klopp hangover and the title race would be a straight shootout between City and the Gunners.
Raya thinks they’re even better than under Klopp. ‘I think they’ve increased their level,’ he says.
Arsenal beat Klopp’s Liverpool 3-1 the last time the two sides met at the Emirates back in February, thanks to goals from Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Trossard.
With Saka still a doubt for the weekend, Arteta will likely turn to Trossard to stake his claim for being a regular starter.
He goes into the game on the back a tough few days. It was blind back-pass into No Man’s Land that led to Saliba’s red card and he missed a penalty in Arsenal’s victory over Shakhtar Donetsk, not to mention his red card against City.
‘He has a great attitude,’ says Raya. ‘He’s a top professional and a top lad. I really don’t think that will play on his mind, he’s just got to focus on doing the right things and you can make mistakes, it’s part of football. Everybody makes mistakes so I don’t think he will think too much about that.‘He just needs to keep doing what he’s doing because he’s a top player and he’s helped us in a lot of games.’
So wrapped up in the emotion of their victory over Liverpool in February, a win that moved them to within two points of City, their raucous celebrations drew criticism as Arteta sprinted down the touchline after one goal while Martin Odegaard picked up a photographer’s camera after the match and started snapping away.
‘Just get down the tunnel, you’ve won a game, it’s three points,’ bemoaned Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher.
If Arsenal are to have the edge today/on Sunday, don’t expect them to come quietly this time.
‘Every win in the Premier League is important and I think we should celebrate every win the same,’ says Raya.
‘When we played them in the second half of the season, it was a massive three points for us and obviously that emotion for everybody to win against Liverpool is important and is incredible. ‘If we win on Sunday, it’s going to be the same emotions and same celebrations.’
