‘In our veins’: Arsenal pushed by pain of Champions League final defeat, says Raya

‘On us to make it better this year,’ goalkeeper admits

He credits self-belief as key to making decisive saves

David Raya has said Arsenal are using the pain of losing on penalties against Paris Saint-Germain in last year’s Champions League final to “make it better this year”.

The Spain goalkeeper produced an outstanding save to help Arsenal hold off Slavia Prague on Wednesday as Mikel Arteta’s side moved up to third in the league standings with 10 points from four matches.

Arsenal will face Borussia Dortmund next at home this month before hosting Real Madrid on 9 December in a showdown that could be vital to their chances of finishing in the top two and ensuring the second leg of their first knockout tie and any that follow would be at the Emirates.

That was the case last season when Arsenal became the first team to win all eight league stage matches and made it to the final in Budapest. Raya has admitted he is haunted by that experience as PSG won back-to-back titles.

“I think it is never going to be out of the system,” he said. “It is something that is going to live with us and hopefully we can win the Champions League to get that out of us. But it has to be in our veins. It has to be on us to make it better this year.”

Raya came to Arsenal’s rescue as Slavia valiantly attempted to fight back from 2-0 down at the break. His diving stop to keep out Oskar Kubiak’s header helped to make it 10 away games in Europe without defeat. Raya, who missed out on the Yashin award for best goalkeeper at the Ballon d’Or to his Spain teammate Unai Simón, credited his self-belief as key to making extraordinary saves on a regular basis.

“Belief is really important but hard work [is, too],” he said. “I work very hard during the week to try and help the team as much as possible on these types of nights. It is just the belief that I have in myself, and the belief the staff, the goalie coach, has in me and the team. That gives you that extra edge and motivation to keep doing it every single week, and the consistency I have been playing with throughout the years is a key factor for us.”