Incredible Raya double-save earns Arsenal a draw in Bergamo

Much of the argument was settled when Raya won the Golden Glove for topping the clean sheet table on his debut campaign in north London. This season he has taken his art to another level with award-winning saves against Wolves and Aston Villa. His heroics when Atalanta’s Matteo Ruggeri stepped up to take a 47th minute penalty, set the bar even higher and saved Arsenal’s night when it looked doomed to failure.

Ultimately, he was key to allowing Arsenal to proceed and make their dash to Milan airport with a valuable away point at the start of only their second Champions League campaign in recent history.

They could have won it had Gabriel Martinelli not failed with a great chance with just over 15 minutes to go and Atalanta keeper Marco Carnesecchi not also been at the top of his game.

Much of the pre-match chat centered around how Arteta was going to use his squad with this game coming between Sunday’s gruelling win at Tottenham and this weekend’s pivotal trip to Premier League title rivals Manchester City.

Gabriel Jesus came in as captain on his first appearance of the season as Jorginho made way for the return of Declan Rice in midfield. The message was clear that Arteta had come here to attack and win rather than play safety first and look for a draw.

Not that either team really ‘went for it’ from the off. The Italians, backed by a profoundly passionate home support in their recently rebuilt mini-cauldron of a stadium, shaded it on possession but failed to force a save from David Raya going into the break.

Arsenal, well versed in such patterns from their attritional victory in the north London derby four days ago, managed five attempts on goal and keeper Carnesecchi made two crucial saves.

A jinking Bukayo Saka run midway through the first half bought Arsenal a dangerous free-kick 25 yards out and a yellow card for Atalanta’s Ederson that stopped the home fans relentless singing and bang drumming for a brief spell.

They switched to deafening whistles while the England winger prepared himself to take advantage oif the set piece. His low dipping shot was well-saved by the Italian keeper, who then quickly denied Thomas Partey’s follow-up shot.

Audible relief around the home support as their team regained its composure and finally mounted an attack of substance that ended with a shot from Charles De Ketelaere that whistled wide of the woodwork. In Ademola Lookman and Retegui they had dangerous forwards but nothing the resolute Arsenal defence could not cope with.

That all seemed to change two minutes into the second half when Ederson flung himself to the ground as he went past Thomas Partey into the Arsenal area. Penalty! There was some contact outside the area, but the wily Brazilian made sure he got into the area before he went down.

The VAR, after a very long check, sided with French referee Clement Turpin. In-form keeper Raya made the most of the delay by consulting Arsenal goalkeeping coach Inaki Cana for some inside info on taker Retegui. It worked in that he beat away the initial shot to his right. The second save was even better as he scrambled to scoop away Retegui’s follow-up.

There seemed no way the Italy international forward could fail to score, but he did. Have a Google of Raya’s wonder reflex save against Ollie Watkins at Aston Villa a few weeks ago and double it in terms of difficulty to get an idea of just how good a stop it was. The celebrations by the Arsenal players were just short of scoring a goal and it gave their side a huge lift.

Arteta, however, sensing his men were losing their already unconvincing grip on the game reacted by making a double switch. Partey and the equally ineffective Jesus made way for substitutes Jorginho and Leandro Trossard.

That freed Havertz to play further forward and arsenal looked more dangerous again in an instant. Both sides made further changes to try to influence the outcome but a draw was probably a fair reflection of a tight match with Raya’s save the stand out moment of quality on a night of high drama and great Italian football atmosphere.

The overnight journey home that followed was to ensure the best possible preparation for Sunday’s third away trip in seven days as Pep Guardiola and the reigning Premier League champions lie in wait. It might prove a sterner test than this one but is unlikely to be played in a more tense atmosphere. Arsenal are back at the top table of European football and do not look out of place at all.

ATALANTA: Carnesecchi 8, Djimsiti 7, Hien 7, Kolasinac 7, Zappacosta 7 (Bellanova 70), De Roon 7, Ederson 7, Ruggeri 6, De Katelaere 6 (Cuadrado 60), Retegui 6 ((Zaniolo 70), Lookman 6. 

Subs: Rui Patricio, Rossi, Kossounou, Pasalic, Samardzic, Palestra, Brescianini, Vlahovic, Del Lungo. 

ARSENAL: Raya 9, White 7, Saliba 7, Gabriel 7, Timber 7 (Calafiori 73), Partey 6 (Jorginho 58), Rice 6, Havertz 7, Saka 7 (Sterling 73), Martinelli 6, Jesus 6 (Trossard 58). 

Subs: Neto, Porter, Kiwior, Butler-Oyedeji, Gower, Lewis-Skelly, Nwaneri, Salah.

Ref: Clement Turpin (France) 5.