David Raya has received two nominations for the Premier League’s September Save of the Month award after producing decisive stops in Arsenal victories over Chelsea and Sunderland.
The Arsenal goalkeeper accounts for two of the six saves on the Premier League’s official September shortlist, continuing his remarkable record in the monthly award.
Raya has been recognised for his late save from Estêvão during Arsenal’s 2-1 victory over Chelsea and his penalty stop from Enzo Le Fée in the 2-0 win at Sunderland.
Both interventions directly protected Premier League points for Mikel Arteta’s side.
David Raya nominated for Chelsea save
Raya’s first nomination comes from Arsenal’s 2-1 victory over Chelsea at the Emirates Stadium.
With Arsenal protecting a one-goal advantage late in the contest, Estêvão found space to threaten an equaliser.
Raya produced an important stop to preserve the lead and allow Arsenal to secure all three points.
The save helped earn him a seven in our Arsenal player ratings against Chelsea, with the goalkeeper otherwise largely protected by Arteta’s defence.
It proved to be a significant moment.
Arsenal had been forced to recover after Morgan Rogers scored inside the opening two minutes, before Kai Havertz equalised and Martin Odegaard completed the comeback.
Without Raya’s intervention late on, that work could have been undone.
Sunderland penalty save earns second nomination
His second shortlisted save was even more influential.
Arsenal’s trip to Sunderland remained goalless when the hosts were awarded a controversial second-half penalty after Ezri Konsa was penalised for his challenge on Dan Ballard.
Le Fée stepped up, but Raya denied him.
Only two minutes later Bruno Guimarães opened the scoring before Bukayo Saka eventually completed a 2-0 Arsenal victory at Sunderland.
The importance of the save increased further when the Premier League’s Key Match Incidents panel subsequently decided that Sunderland should not have been awarded the penalty.
Raya ensured the incorrect decision never altered the result.
Raya achieves rare Premier League feat
Having two saves nominated in the same month is nothing new for the Arsenal goalkeeper.
Raya became the first goalkeeper to receive two Save of the Month nominations in a single month when he achieved the feat in August 2024.
He has now done it again.
September’s six-player shortlist contains:
Dean Henderson against Fulham
David Raya against Chelsea
David Raya against Sunderland
Gianluigi Donnarumma against Manchester United
Alisson Becker against Bournemouth
Bernd Leno against Manchester United
Supporters can vote through the Premier League website until 12pm BST on Monday 28 September, with the public vote combined with the verdict of a panel of football experts.
The winner will be announced next week.
Raya remains decisive for Arsenal
Arsenal’s 3-0 defeat at Brighton before the international break damaged what had otherwise been an excellent start to their Premier League title defence.
Raya has nevertheless remained one of Arteta’s most dependable performers.
He won a third consecutive Premier League Golden Glove last season and has previously won the Save of the Month prize three times.
His two September nominations provide another reminder that Arsenal’s defensive strength is not solely about limiting opposition chances.
When opponents do break through, Raya continues to produce match-changing interventions.
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