Ramsdale stakes claim for No 1 spot as Leno faces uphill battle

Aaron Ramsdale deserves to be Arsenal No 1 after passing Burnley test with flying colours… Mikel Arteta will hope decision to drop Bernd Leno continues to reap rewards with £25m summer signing yet to concede

• Arsenal sneaked to a 1-0 victory over Burnley, despite a controversial VAR call
• Gunners No 1 Bernd Leno made a poor start to the season, and Mikel Arteta acted
• The north Londoners signed Aaron Ramsdale in a £25m deal this summer 
• Ramsdale impressed on Saturday and Arteta hopes he keeps his form up 

Like his mentor Pep Guardiola, Mikel Arteta has a ruthless streak when it comes to goalkeepers.

Arteta was by Guardiola’s side when Joe Hart got ditched at Manchester City and now the Arsenal boss hopes the decision to replace Bernd Leno with Aaron Ramsdale continues to pay dividends.

Ramsdale, a surprising £25million capture from Sheffield United towards the end of the transfer window, has yet to concede a goal in 270 minutes for the Gunners.

Aaron Ramsdale impressed against Burnley as he tightens his grip of the Arsenal starting spot

Mikel Arteta made the call to drop Bernd Leno after the German’s poor start to the season

After clean sheets against West Bromwich Albion and Norwich, Burnley at Turf Moor was a tougher test and one which he passed with flying colours.

The 23-year-old controlled his area against the aerial threats of Chris Wood and Ashley Barnes and set the tone for an uncharacteristically resolute Gunners display with centre half Gabriel outstanding.

Ramsdale made a great stop to deny Maxwel Cornet scoring on his Burnley debut and was an additional source of Arsenal attacks with some great distribution.

He was also vital in the key moment of the game, rushing from his goal after 69 minutes to clear from Matej Vydra after a mishit back pass by Ben White.

Leno was unquestioned in his starting spot last season but has cracked under new competition

Referee Anthony Taylor initially awarded a Burnley penalty but overturned his decision after checking his monitor which showed the goalkeeper had touched the ball before his opponent. 

‘This is his character, his leadership,’ said Arteta glowingly about Ramsdale. ‘It is how he presents himself as a person as well. That is what I like about him. He dominates his area.

‘He also has qualities going the other way. We have to find spaces and under pressure he has this ability.’

In the end a single well- executed free-kick by Martin Odegaard after 30 minutes was enough for Arsenal to claim their second consecutive Premier League win following a dreadful opening to the campaign of three defeats.

Ramsdale is quickly winning over the fans after a negative reaction following his £25m move

But Turf Moor is no longer home, sweet home for Burnley who have failed to win there since January — a run of 13 games. 

They are stuck in the bottom three having taken only one point from five games and for all the talk by chief executive Alan Pace of ‘raising the bar’ with Sean Dyche signing a new contract, the priority will be to secure their Premier League status.

After the final whistle, rival fans in the Cricket Field stand threw bottles and other objects at each other and there were reports of disturbances in the car park. The FA is investigating.

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