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Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya has set his sights on winning a third consecutive Premier League Golden Glove award after securing the accolade for the 2023/24 season alongside Nottingham Forest’s Matz Sels.
Both goalkeepers finished the campaign with 13 clean sheets, leaving them to share the award after neither was able to claim it outright on the final day. Raya conceded a header from Ross Stewart in Arsenal’s 2-1 win over Southampton, while Sels was beaten by Levi Colwill’s tap-in during Forest’s 1-0 defeat to Chelsea.
Despite conceding in their final match, Arsenal ended the season with the best defensive record in the Premier League, having shipped just 34 goals compared to Forest’s 46. Raya’s efforts were instrumental in that achievement, and the Spain international is now aiming for a personal hat-trick of Golden Gloves.
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“Every award is special but the way we defended this season, we had a lot of injuries and different back fours,” Raya said. “(On Sunday) we played with KT [Kieran Tierney] in the centre-back, [Oleksandr] Zinchenko came back in as a left-back, Kuba [Jakub Kiwior] as a right centre-back, and Ben White as a right-back.
David Raya (Image credit: Getty Images)“That just shows the willingness to keep doing the right things and credit to everybody who helped the team to keep their feet. It is a special moment. To do something like this at this amazing club and put something into the history of the club, it’s incredible. I’m very proud to achieve this so now let’s go for the third one.”
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Raya becomes just the fourth goalkeeper to retain the Golden Glove, joining the elite company of Liverpool’s Pepe Reina and Manchester City’s Joe Hart and Ederson.
Arsenal’s win over Southampton was sealed by a dramatic 89th-minute goal from captain Martin Ødegaard, securing second place for the Gunners for a third consecutive season. The match also marked a fitting farewell for Kieran Tierney, who scored in his final appearance for the club ahead of an expected return to Celtic this summer.
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