Nev blasts Arsenal’s keeper policy

Manchester United legend Gary Neville has slammed Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta’s decision to have two goalkeepers competing for a starting spot.

Arteta added David Raya to his squad earlier this month to provide direct competition for Aaron Ramsdale.

Raya has signed on an initial £3million loan from Brentford, with an option to make the deal permanent. However, Neville is not convinced and criticised the decision before the Gunners’ trip to Crystal Palace on Monday night.

“I’ve said this before, I’m not a fan of competition for goalkeepers,” he said on Sky Sports. “I think you need a clear number one and then a clear number two. That’s my view.

“Obviously, I’ve experienced it at United, where we had clear number ones and number twos and we’ve had in some situations two, sort of, equal keepers.”

The former England defender went on to add: “The problem is, you end up with a situation every time a goalkeeper makes a mistake, which they inevitably do, where you say ‘will they play the other guy the next week?’

“Once you do that once, you’ve undermined the situation and you’ve created what I think sometimes is a very difficult situation for everybody in the team.

“You haven’t got stability with your back four, both goalkeepers feel a little bit unnerved, a little but anxious that if they make a mistake they’re out.

“So I’m interested to see what Mikel Arteta does with it and how he manages it, because I’ve never seen it work before, really well.”