In Focus: Gunners can count on Ramsdale between the sticks

Arsenal got their Premier League campaign off to a winning start against Crystal Palace, thanks in part to goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale.

Mikel Arteta’s men were dominant for large periods of their 2-0 victory over the Eagles but all that could have been undone had it not been for some important stops made by the 24-year-old.

As the Gunners prepare to face Leicester on Saturday, we turn the spotlight on the stopper’s role in their hopes to gatecrash the top four.

Standout

Arsenal made encouraging progress during the 2021-22 season and £30million signing Ramsdale was undoubtedly one of the success stories.

Starting the campaign as Bernd Leno’s understudy, the German now finds himself at Fulham following the rising star's emergence.

Brought into the side for Arsenal’s fourth league outing of the season after three successive defeats, the former Sheffield United custodian has missed only one game since.

His fiery and passionate behaviour made him an instant hit with Gunners fans, while a number of exceptional saves proved he has the shot-stopping ability to go with it.

A central part of a new-found defensive solidity, only the keepers from the Premier League’s top four earned more clean sheets than Ramsdale’s 12 last term.

A key cog

But it is more than just saves that make Ramsdale such a lynchpin of Arteta’s Arsenal.

His passing ability is what stood him apart from Leno in his suitability to the Spaniard’s style of play, often being the first man to start their progressive build-up from the back. 

That is shown by the fact that last season only six of his outfield team-mates completed more passes than Ramsdale’s 1,010.

A lighthearted moment in Arsenal’s newly-released All or Nothing documentary when discussing his father shed light on the importance Arteta places on the keeper’s passing.

He said: "My dad still hates watching, especially now.

"He tells me week in, week out to stop passing it into midfield because it is going to give him a heart attack.

"I just say to him, ‘You’ll have to speak to Mikel about that’."

A pass success rate of 62.57 last season suggests there is still work to do to improve in that regard.

But there are plenty of moments — including his a raking pass out of his hands to pick out Oleksandr Zinchenko against the Eagles — to show the ball-playing talent is there to develop.

Concentration issues

At 24, Ramsdale remains somewhat of a youngster in comparison to other Premier League goalkeepers. 

That was evident during some moments of sloppiness and misplaced passes in the Palace win, as Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville alluded to.

He said: "It’s his concentration. He performs like a young goalkeeper where they lack a bit of maturity, they want to get involved too much.

"There’s sloppy little things, there’s corners — simple catches and he drops them. You do raise the hopes of the [opposition] crowd, the team if you’re just fumbling things.

"He made some good saves but just get rid of the bugs that will stop him developing to what he really can be, those little bits tidied up or he’ll always look scruffy. 

"There’s four, five things there tonight that [Arteta will] look at with his goalkeeper and think they could cost him, let’s nip them out of the game."

Fellow pundit Jamie Carragher added: "It was a typical Ramsdale performance where there’s good things but you still think a little bit erratic at times."

Palace praise

It would not go on to cost the Gunners though and their No1 more than made up for it with some crucial saves to thwart a Palace fight-back.

He denied Odsonne Edouard’s header from close range in the first half before coming quick off his line to block Eberechi Eze’s one-on-one with the game still finely poised at 1-0.

While those were the only stops he had to make, Arteta was pleased to see his goalkeeper step up in the rare moments he was called upon.

The Spaniard said: "To have players at the back of the right size is really important in these kinds of matches. That’s the resilience we need to win football matches and see them through.

"Aaron Ramsdale did incredibly well from the one-on-one and won the game for us. He was exceptional today."

Given the way Arsenal imploded to surrender their top-four place late last season, it is the kind of resilience that will be needed if the youthful outfit are going to seal a Champions League return this time around.

With Ramsdale, Arteta will feel he has a man willing to provide just that between the sticks.