Mikel Arteta responds to criticism of Aaron Ramsdale axing
- Arteta benched Ramsdale in favour of David Raya against Everton
- Boss has tried to play down the significance of the decision
- Ramsdale's situation is being tracked by Chelsea
By Tom Gott
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has argued that his decision to drop goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale in favour of David Raya against Everton is "nothing new".
The boss surprised many when he sent Ramsdale to the bench in favour of summer signing Raya, who kept a clean sheet on his debut as Arsenal secured a scrappy 1-0 victory.
After the game, Arteta admitted he has previously regretted not changing his goalkeeper during matches and suggested he would no longer be afraid to substitute his stopper if he felt it would benefit the team.
Arteta's decision has attracted a whirlwind of different responses, including accusations of 'disrespect' towards Ramsdale and claims the England international could push to leave Arsenal - 90min understands this is not the case and Ramsdale is happy to fight for his future, despite rivals Chelsea tracking proceedings.
Asked whether he was surprised by the response to his decision, Arteta told Tuesday's press conference: "No, because I respect opinions and I understand the questions and I understand historically what happened.
"For me there is nothing different. We’ve been doing it for many years. When Bernd [Leno] was here we brought Aaron and I don’t see any differences. It’s my job. I have to answer the questions in the best possible way, in the most honest way. As a manager my job is to do what I feel. What I feel that always is the best for the team and for the club, not for Mikel, that’s for sure."
Clearly keen to move on from the discussion, Arteta declined to respond to two further questions about Ramsdale.
Beginning with a question about Ramsdale's response to the news, Arteta said: "Honestly, I don’t want to talk about the response of every single player in the squad, whether they play or not. Sorry. Thank you."
Later quizzed on the differences between Ramsdale and Raya, the manager concluded: "It’s something that I’m not going to get into. I don’t speak about how different Eddie [Nketiah] is to [Gabriel] Martinelli or Reiss Nelson or to whoever. Every player has a different personality, different characteristics."
Arteta will have a fresh decision to make on his goalkeepers when Arsenal take on PSV Eindhoven on Wednesday in their first Champions League game since 2016/17.
READ THE LATEST ARSENAL NEWS, TRANSFER RUMOURS & GOSSIP
feed