Not less than 10 different goalkeepers have been awarded the English Premier League (EPL) Golden Glove since the first award was given in 2005. With 15 clean sheets to his name so far in the 2023/24 edition, David Raya has become the third Arsenal goalie to win the highly coveted prize as per Premierleague.com. How did this Spanish shot stopper achieve this feat?
The Spain international had to wait till match day 5 of the season before making his debut for the North London outfit. However, this did not stop him from keeping a clean sheet in the encounter. It is worthy of note that the first player to fire a shot on target at Raya this season was Idrissa Gana Gueye of Everton. Interestingly, the goalie was well placed to prevent it from going into the net.
David Raya
The Spaniard shot stopper got another shut out to his name when the Gunners visited Bournemouth on match day 7. The following game week, David kept a clean sheet against Manchester City. This made him the first goalie to keep a clean sheet against the Citizens im the English Premiership this season. In fact, he is the only one that has not conceded any goal against the Guardiola boys this term.
Raya had his best day in goal for the London outfit on January 20. It was an encounter with Crystal Palace at the Emirates Stadium. He faced 5 shots in the game and saved all. It should be noted that it had not been all easy for the former Brentford safe hands. There are some occasions in which he made defensive errors some of which led to goals.
Meanwhile, the other two goalkeepers that have won the award in Arsenal colours are Wojciech Szczęsny and Petr Čech. The former achieved the feat in the 2013/14 season while the latter did it 2 seasons afterwards. Coincidentally, both of them kept 16 clean sheets to clinch the prize.
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