It’s an international break but that doesn’t mean that the coverage of Arsenal needs to stop. In the latest episode, Adam and Scott talk about the Ramsdale vs Raya debate and when we might see David Raya make his first appearance for Arsenal.
There is a report in the Daily Mail (YMMV here on believability) that Raya might be due for a run in the first team:
"Mail Sport understands Gunners head coach Mikel Arteta is giving serious consideration to giving Raya, a loan arrival from Brentford, a prolonged first-team opportunity in the coming weeks."
There is also discussion about the early goal-keeping stats that are floating around about Ramsdale and how much stock to put into that.
Later is the discussion of the Ballon d’Or nominations for three Arsenal players. This is the first time in a long time (going back to Alexis Sanchez) that an Arsenal player has had the honor.
To wrap up part one is a look back on Nicolas Pepe and his time at Arsenal coming to an end.
Should Arsenal have done better with the scouting and recruitment? How does this look in hindsight and what do we learn from this transfer.
Last is a discussion of the PGMOL releasing select audio between the referee and the video assistant referee for contentious calls. One of those was the penalty decision for Kai Havertz. Here is what Howard Webb said about the incident.
Howard Webb: “And I was watching this game and thought to myself, that looks like a penalty kick. At full speed as Kai Havertz goes between Wan-Bissaka and Casemiro. The penalty was given and we know that the VAR will always check every penalty situation.
“It was a good use of VAR. The referee believed that Wan-Bissaka had tripped Havertz, but the video shows something quite different that there's no actual contact initially.
“Another step by Havertz, his leg goes into Wan-Bissaka. The VAR, really calm and concise, recognises all of that, thinks it's a clear and obvious error. I agree. Recommends a review. We get to the right decision.”
It is positive to hear the process but it still needs to probably be refined more.
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Cannon Stats #14 - Ballons d'Or