Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta admitted to wanting to substitute his goalkeeper on more than one occasion in the past following the Gunners' 1-0 win over Everton in the Premier League.
Visiting a ground where they had not prevailed since Arsene Wenger's final season in 2017-18, Arsenal broke their Goodison Park curse thanks to a crisp second-half strike from Leandro Trossard.
The contest also marked a first appearance in Arsenal colours for Brentford loanee David Raya, who demoted Aaron Ramsdale to the bench and came away from Merseyside with a clean sheet to his name.
Raya was not tested to the extreme by Sean Dyche's timid Everton side, but he proved reliable when called upon throughout the 90 minutes, and the Spaniard's battle with Ramsdale for goalkeeping supremacy has been a hotly-debated topic throughout the summer months.
Raya's introduction on Sunday led to suggestions that he could be Arteta's number one moving forward, but the Gunners boss does not see either goalkeeper as an undisputed first-choice and hinted that the pair could continue to rotate as the season progresses.
© Reuters
Goalkeeping changes are typically reserved for injuries, red cards or imminent penalty shootouts, although Arteta also revealed that he wanted to alter his last line of defence in two previous unspecified draws, but he could not muster up the "courage" to do so.
When asked about why he handed Raya his first start on Sunday, Arteta said: "The same rationale that Fabio [Vieira] played here or that Eddie [Nketiah] played ahead of Gabriel Jesus. I haven't had a single question on why Gabriel hasn't started - he has won more trophies including me in that dressing room but they don't [ask why]," as quoted by arsenal.com.
"It is something that historically is done like this but I cannot have two players in this position and not play them. David has tremendous qualities like Aaron has and Karl [Hein] has, but we have to use them and it is like this.
I am a really young manager, I have only had three and a half years in the job and I have few regrets. It was on two occasions, that after 60 minutes and at 85 minutes in two games in this period I could have changed the keeper in that moment, and I didn't do it.
"I didn't have the courage to do it, but I am able to take a winger or a striker and put a central defender at the back to make a back five and hold that result. We drew those games and I was so unhappy.
"Someone is going to do it, and it'll be strange and you'll ask why, but tell me why not? If you have all the qualities in another goalkeeper to do something, or if something is happening and you want to change the momentum, then do it.
© Reuters
"It is a regret that I have and now my feeling is to get everybody engaged in the team that they have to play, regardless of the competition - this is my message. We adapt to the qualities that our players have and try to make them play to their strengths.
"There are games to do certain things and games to do other things that in my opinion were really important against Everton and we made the decision to try and benefit the team - that's it."
Arsenal's win was partially overshadowed by an early injury to Gabriel Martinelli, who was forced off for match-winner Trossard mere moments after having a goal ruled out for offside, and he was seen clutching the back of his hamstring.
Arteta revealed that the Brazilian had tweaked the muscle while running through to score his disallowed goal, but he was none the wiser about the severity of his concern.
"He felt it after the action for the run on the goal, and normally he's not one of the players to have muscular issues, but he had to come off, so let's see," the Spaniard added.
Arsenal's first triumph at Goodison since 2017 moves them onto 13 points from a possible 15 in the 2023-24 Premier League season, and the Gunners now prepare to open their Champions League campaign at home to PSV Eindhoven on Wednesday before next weekend's North London derby with Tottenham Hotspur.
No Data Analysis info
