'Better links with his teammates': Arteta hails Arsenal player who's 'much more composed' now; should play tonight

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Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has sung the praises of one of his players for how confident and composed he looks at present.

The Gunners boss was speaking to the media ahead of Arsenal’s Champions League trip to Sporting CP on Tuesday night.

Arsenal will look to build on their 3-0 Premier League win over Nottingham Forest at the weekend and bounce back from the 1-0 loss to Inter Milan.

Mikel Arteta says David Raya is ‘more confident’ at Arsenal these days

Arteta, speaking on Monday night, was asked whether he had noticed that David Raya is now looking more comfortable in between the Arsenal sticks.

“It’s something natural,” he said, as per football.london. “It takes time to adapt to a new club like ours.

“Even though I thought last season he had a really good season, now he is more confident.

“He understands the system, he’s got his space in the right way and you can tell he’s much more composed.

“He has better links with his teammates and he’s been in great form.”

Raya joined Arsenal from Brentford last year, initially on loan before signing permanently for a reported £27million fee.

The Spaniard was under pressure from the off and made a few mistakes early on in his career at the Emirates Stadium.

This led to some wondering whether Arteta would bring Aaron Ramsdale back in Raya’s place, but the boss stuck to his guns.

Raya has since gone from strength to strength and, were it not for him, Arsenal probably would have dropped even more points.