Former Arsenal star William Gallas believes that shotstopper Aaron Ramsdale is the "best goalkeeper in the Premier League right now" following his performance against Liverpool last weekend. The England international played a key role in ensuring the Gunners walked out of Anfield with at least one point.
That point could be the difference between winning and losing the title, with his stops to deny Darwin Nunez and Ibrahima Konate of particular note. It led to plenty of praise for Ramsdale from manager Mikel Arteta ahead of another key clash against West Ham this weekend.
"You need individuals performing at the highest level but certainly you need your keeper to be impressive at certain moments," the Spaniard said when questioned on Ramsdale's impact. "Every team who has won titles has a keeper who is a key contributor to that and Aaron has been really good this season."
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While there will be plenty of debate surrounding goalkeepers in the Premier League, for Gallas, Ramsdale has to be in the conversation as one of the best. He told Genting Casino: "Aaron Ramsdale is the best goalkeeper in the Premier League right now, he pulled off some amazing saves against Liverpool and it was not the first time.
"I think Arsenal went back to London with a point and owe him for that. The saves he did from Salah and the others too were magnificent. He’s one of the best in the Premier League right now. "
Gallas took it a step further, believing he should be in the discussion as one of the best in the world, but needs one key thing to prove it. He continued: "Ramsdale is maybe one of the best keepers in the world at the moment. But to be the best, you need to be at that level for years.
"This season he’s been great, but I’m still waiting to see if he will be at that level in seasons to come. Mendy for example from Chelsea, he had a great season and then the next season he made a mistake and was dropped. I like to see players who perform season in, season out. They are the ones you can call the best in the world."
It may have been some wait to have a glovesman with such acclaim, with Gallas adding that he is the best they've had since the Invincibles. He added: "I think Ramsdale is the best keeper Arsenal have had since Jens Lehmann. We are talking about Ramsdale because the Gunners are top of the league. If they were in a different position, we wouldn’t be talking about him like this.
"If you compare Ramsdale to Cech when he was at Arsenal, the position of the Gunners was not as good, around 4th and we didn’t see as many top saves as this. So for me, Ramsdale is the best keeper Arsenal have had since Lehmann."
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