The stats that prove Ramsdale deserves to be Arsenal number one
When Arsenal were heavily linked with a big money move for Aaron Ramsdale over the summer, reports of a switch to the Emirates certainly raised eyebrows. The 23-year-old had been relegated the previous two Premier League seasons with Bournemouth and Sheffield United, respectively, and had put in two sub-par performances for the latter in the opening weeks of the Championship campaign.
Yet while the Gunners were unwilling to match the Blades' asking price for Ramsdale earlier in the summer, Arsenal finally completed the deal a month ago, landing the goalkeeper for an initial £24m, as per the Athletic, putting pen to paper on a four-year deal. That Emiliano Martinez had been sold by Arsenal to Aston Villa for less than that 12 months previously, it left some Gunners supporters scratching their heads at the decision to spend more on a goalkeeper who is arguably not of the same standard as the one they sold.
Of course, there is logic behind the decision to sell Martinez, who was second choice behind Bernd Leno up until his injury at Brighton in 2020, and the German was impressing at the time. Arsenal needed to raise funds to pursue other targets, and Martinez was keen on regular first team football, something the Gunners couldn't offer as Mikel Arteta favoured Leno as number one, so it made sense at the time to cash in on the goalkeeper.
Hindsight is, of course, 20-20, and few could have foreseen Martinez going on to perform to such high standards in an Aston Villa shirt, even accounting for his solid displays between the Arsenal sticks in Leno's absence at the end of 2019/20. That said, any early doubts over Ramsdale have been quickly put to rest. The calibre of Arsenal's opponents in his three outings, admittedly, haven't been the highest - the goalkeeper made his debut for the Gunners in the Carabao Cup win over West Brom before turning out against Norwich and Burnley - but Ramsdale has kept a clean sheet in each of his three outings for Arteta's side.
For context, Leno has kept just three clean sheets across his last 14 Arsenal appearances. Across his three games, Ramsdale made a total of eight saves, and earned a WhoScored rating of 7.37. The real acid test came in the win at Burnley. The Clarets have routinely been tough to beat at Turf Moor, even if their dominance on home turf is starting to wane, and as they pushed for a second half equaliser, they sought to play more direct to try and unsettle the Arsenal backline.
In previous seasons, they may have crumbled, but Ramsdale stood firm as the last line of defence. Burnley attempted 41 crosses on Saturday, a record in a Premier League match this season, yet Ramsdale was able to make four high ball claims - no goalkeeper has made more in a game in England's top tier this term - to ease the pressure on the Arsenal defence. For additional context, Leno has made four high ball claims in his three league outings this season, and has punched the ball away three times to Ramsdale's zero, with the summer signing more confident in his ability to claim high balls into the Arsenal box rather than seek to punch clear, which may in turn result in more pressure being applied to the Gunners goal.
Then there is Ramsdale's superior distribution by comparison to Leno. Indeed, the former has mustered a 75.6% pass success rate from 33.3 passes per game for Arsenal this season, an improvement on the latter's 64.1% from 26.0, thus aiding the Gunners build attacks from the back and allowing them to better dominate opponents. Of course, Leno was in goal for defeats to Chelsea and Manchester City, two teams that rank sixth and first for possession, respectively, in the Premier League this season, which will have impacted his numbers, but the defence may have felt more comfortable in those two matches with Ramsdale featuring.
It isn't just Ramsdale that has helped bolster the Arsenal backline, with deadline day arrival Takehiro Tomiyasu also having a positive effect on the Gunners defence, yet the goalkeeper joined without a glowing reputation and, considering his price tag, the pressure to make an immediate impact for the north London side. Ramsdale has shouldered that pressure well and the early signs are certainly positive for the young shotstopper as Arsenal seek to move on from a disastrous to the campaign and get the better of rivals Tottenham in Sunday's North London Derby.
