Aaron Ramsdale will almost certainly earn his first Premier League start since early September when Arsenal travel to Brentford on Saturday evening.
This is because the man who has ousted him from his post as Gunners' No.1, David Raya, is still technically only on loan from Brentford and therefore is ineligible to feature against the Bees as per Premier League rules. Ramsdale has found first-team minutes hard to come by over the last few months.
From September 4, the 25-year-old has played just two games for Arsenal, both of which came in Carabao Cup ties. The first against their upcoming opponents Brentford, in which Ramsdale kept a clean sheet, though he had no such luck in the second.
The England international was guilty of some sloppy shot-stopping against West Ham in the fourth round of the competition and Arsenal were swiftly dumped out following a 3-1 defeat. Saturday's trip to west London marks Ramsdale's first chance to redeem himself since that miserable evening against the Hammers.
However, it comes amid a backdrop of uncertainty over his long-term club future. His lengthy spell on the bench has inevitably created a situation where speculation is rife regarding a potential Emirates exit and Ramsdale will certainly have no shortage of suitors.
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It is all but confirmed that Raya will join Arsenal on a permanent basis come the end of the campaign with Arteta sending a strong message over who he views as his first-choice moving forward.. The Spaniard only joined on loan as the Gunners tried to reduce the amount of money spent on transfer fees in one summer, but he will almost certainly still be in north London next term.
HAVE YOUR SAY!Does Ramsdale need to leave Arsenal to save his international career? Comment below
David Raya is now Arsenal's No. 1 ahead of Aaron Ramsdale (Getty Images)Opinion is divided among fans and pundits as to whether Ramsdale should remain at Arsenal or leave as soon as possible. Just last week, Graeme Souness encouraged the 'keeper to stay and fight for his place.
"The Arsenal goalkeeper has to show what he is made of and deal with the situation in which he finds himself," Souness wrote in the Daily Mail. "Mikel Arteta fancies David Raya more than he does Ramsdale right now, but that can change."
In stark contrast, ex-England ace David James urged Ramsdale to leave Arsenal if he wants to save his chances of being the Three Lions No.1 at Euro 2024. “If he has any chance of giving Gareth Southgate a headache over goalkeeping selection, he won’t be doing that sat on the bench at Arsenal," James explained.
"He might have to have a conversation with Mikel [Arteta] and his agent and see if there’s an opportunity for him to play the rest of the season somewhere else. I had a similar situation myself at Liverpool, when Brad Friedel was brought in.
"There’s a part of you that wants to knuckle down and work harder but then you look at the guy coaching you and think ‘it was your intervention that brought my challenger to the club, how much will me working harder make you go back on the decision to bring someone else in?’
"It’s a Sisyphean task. David Raya has been a fantastic goalkeeper in the Premier League, there is no question about that. But he has made mistakes I don’t think Ramsdale has made, then Arteta comes out and defends Raya. It doesn’t seem fair in some senses."
Amid all of the transfer talk, Ramsdale's full focus will be on Saturday evening. It is not out of the realms of possibility that the trip to Brentford is the shot-stopper's last chance to impress before the January transfer window gets under way, by which time he'll have a big decision to make.
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