Raya bailed Arsenal out at Sunderland
Sunderland 0–2 Arsenal, and the scoreline is a lie. David Raya saved a penalty at the Stadium of Light on Saturday, Bruno Guimaraes scored his first Arsenal goal and Bukayo Saka sealed it (3) (4) (26). Arsenal have won all four Premier League games. Twelve points, top of the table, seven goals better off than anyone chasing them.
Raya was the Player of the Match, and there is no argument about it (26). Thomas Frank called him "the best 'keeper in the Premier League and probably one of the best in the world" (10). Fine, he would say that about a keeper who just rescued a game. But Raya has now made the decisive intervention in a match Arsenal were rattled in, and that is a different thing from being a good shot-stopper.
The Guimaraes question is no longer a question
Guimaraes scored his first goal for the club against the club whose crowd knew exactly who he was, and Martin Keown's line about him was the best thing said all week: "Boy did he shut the crowd up" (4). Arteta went further, praising the personality and the decisions on a "special game for him" (29).
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The signing looked like squad depth in August. Four league games in, he is the player who takes the game when it gets ugly. Add the Timber return off the bench after months out (27), and the shape of this squad is clearer than it was a month ago.
Arteta is right to be furious, and it will not help
Arteta called the penalty award "unacceptable at this level", describing it as "a judo roll from the opponent. Ezri does nothing" (5) (9). He is correct. The referee review of John Brooks and Stuart Attwell has followed all week (2) (12), and Ashley Williams argued the PGMOL has set a dangerous precedent (12).
None of that changes a single point. Arsenal have had two contentious penalty calls go against them in this run and won both games anyway. That is what a title defence looks like when the decisions go wrong.
What to watch
Ipswich away in the EFL Cup on Tuesday, then Brighton away on Saturday at 16:00 (15) (19). Two trips, two very different tests. Ben White, Cristhian Mosquera and William Saliba are the names to watch on the injury list for Tuesday (15), and Viktor Gyokeres and Max Dowman are the selection calls Arteta has to make (19). The league record is intact. The squad is about to be tested properly.
