Former Tottenham boss Thomas Frank names Arsenal star as ‘best in Premier League’ | Football

Former Tottenham manager Thomas Frank says Arsenal have helped develop one of his former players into the ‘best in the Premier League’.

Arsenal maintained their 100 per cent start to the season on Saturday night with a hard-fought 2-0 win away at Sunderland.

Bruno Guimaraes and Bukayo Saka were on the scoresheet, with the midfielder’s opening goal coming just 121 seconds after David Raya saved Enzo Le Fee’s penalty.

Guimaraes hailed Raya as ‘definitely the best goalkeeper in the world’, with the Spain World Cup winner conceding just one goal in the opening six games of the campaign.

And despite his allegiance to the Gunners’ arch-rivals, Frank could not stop heaping praise on Raya, whom he signed for Brentford back in 2019.

‘We look at the four key areas for a goalkeeper,’ the Dane said on Match of the Day. ‘One, is that he is very good at dominating the box, in David’s case, he’s not the biggest but he’s so good in his high positioning.

‘Good distribution, very good in the one v one situations and then very good at defending the space behind the defensive line. In those four areas he’s just developed his expertise over the last several years.

‘This penalty is exceptional, how quick he gets out there and with a low, strong hand. That’s a fantastic, world-class save I must admit.

‘He sees the game very quick and he’s got an exceptional throw and kick. It’s just an extra weapon to start an offensive transition very quickly.

‘He’s always been known for this [being good with his feet], but over the years he’s got better and better.

‘He has had fantastic development, and his mentality is so good. For a keeper, one of the things is that you need to be very good to get past your mistakes and he does that so well.

‘So for me, he’s the best keeper in the Premier League and one of the best in the world.’

Thanks in part to Raya’s heroics, Arsenak are top of the table after four games and will remain there if Manchester City fail to beat Manchester United on Sunday by two goals or more.

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