Mikel Arteta says the signing of David Raya can help push Arsenal to the next level as they aim to go one better and win the Premier League title this season.
The Spanish goalkeeper has joined the Gunners on a season-long loan, with the option to make the move permanent, and is vying with Aaron Ramsdale to make his Arsenal debut at Crystal Palace on Monday.
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“To have two excellent goalkeepers is great,” said Arteta in his pre-match press conference.
“We have two great left-wingers and two great strikers and two great holding midfielders. We have Jorginho, Thomas [Partey] and Declan [Rice] and that is not a problem.
“We tend to always be at a certain level because it’s in our nature – when you change the environment and the environment is to be 100 per cent every day, believe me, the level is going to increase.”
See: Ramsdale v Raya: Who will be Arsenal's No 1?
Arteta suggests the signing of Raya has already been justified after another of Arsenal's summer signings, Jurrien Timber, suffered an ACL injury on his Premier League debut last weekend.
“We want two players per position that can do that, and you saw what happened to Jurrien, it can happen to our goalkeeper, it happened to [Thibaut] Courtois.”
“Obviously for the team it’s a big blow because we recruited him with clear intentions and what he was bringing to the team was evident and he’s not going to be in this season for us.
“We have to adapt, these things happen unfortunately, and we have to move on.”
Zinchenko nears return
Timber's injury leaves a gap to fill in Arsenal's defence, so the return of Oleksandr Zinchenko to trianing is a timely one for Arteta.
"Alex is doing very well," Arteta revealed. "He’s been training with us and hopefully we’re going to have him available very, very soon."
