Arsenal star right winger Bukayo Saka is arguably the best player in the Premier League and one of the best forwards in the world, showing an all-around ability to make an impact as a left-footed right winger that is so rare to find, especially in a 23-year-old.
Saka added to his legacy in the Premier League with an assist for Gabriel Magalhaes from a corner in the Gunners’ 2-2 draw against reigning champions Manchester City, meaning he now has 22 goal contributions in his career against “Big Six” clubs.
It also means Saka has five assists and a goal in five Premier League starts in the 2024/25 season thus far, building on his 2023/24 season in which he was one of the top contenders for the Player of the Season award.
Yet as excellent as Saka continues to be for Arsenal, the best players on the team isn’t the England international, nor is it any other outfield player for that matter. No, that honor belongs to David Raya.
For the third straight match – and matches against Tottenham, Atalanta, and Manchester City are massive ones – Raya was named the Man of the Match, dazzling in goal with breath-taking saves despite the disappointing nature of the 2-2 draw with Man City.
Coming into the game, Raya was easily the best goalkeeper in the Premier League and Europe as a whole with a stunning save percentage of 93.3, as well as a clean sheet in three of his four starts.
Raya is making saves that would be the best career saves of a lot of other Premier League keepers look routine. He was a great keeper before arriving in Arsenal already with back-to-back save percentages of 77.7 for Brentford.
Now, though, Raya is truly outdoing himself and has been the main heroic figure for Arsenal this season, which has become especially important now that captain Martin Odegaard has suffered an injury.
Saka is obviously Arsenal’s most valuable player, but through five games so far in 2024/25, Raya has been so brilliant that he is the Gunners’ MVP.
The managing editor of The Trivela Effect, Kevin has 15 years of experience in digital media. He covered Real Madrid from 2019-2022 for The Real Champs as a site manager. His work has been featured in ESPN, Bleacher Report, Yahoo! Sports, NBC Sports, and other major outlets. You can contact him at the site’s official Twitter handle @TrivelaEffect or via the site’s official email thetrivelaeffect@gmail.com.