Mikel Arteta has not ruled David Raya out of playing against Bolton, with Arsenal facing a potential goalkeeping crisis for Wednesday night’s Carabao Cup third-round tie.
Raya, who has started all six of Arsenal’s games across all competitions so far this season, was filmed limping and appeared to be wearing a bandage on his knee while leaving the Etihad Stadium after Sunday’s dramatic 2-2 Premier League draw with title rivals Manchester City.
Asked about Raya at Tuesday’s pre-Bolton press conference, manager Arteta said: “Let’s see how they are today. We’ll try to make a call on that if we believe that’s a possibility.”
Brazilian Neto is currently Arsenal’s No2 goalkeeper after joining on loan from Bournemouth in the summer, but he is cup-tied in the Carabao Cup after playing for the Cherries in their 1-0 defeat by West Ham in the second round.
That has led to fears that Arteta’s side could have a goalkeeping crisis on their hands for the game against League One side Bolton at the Emirates Stadium after they failed to sign a new No3 this summer and allowed the likes of Karl Hein and Arthur Okonkwo to depart.
Arsenal had wanted to sign Wolves’ Dan Bentley, but had a £50,000 bid for his services rejected in July.
Arsenal’s No3 goalkeeper this season is 18-year-old Tommy Setford, who signed from Ajax in the summer for just under £1million, but he is currently injured.
It means if Raya is not fit, Arsenal could be forced to hand 16-year-old Jack Porter an unexpected senior debut against Bolton, after he recently trained with the first team and was named on the bench for last week’s Champions League opener against Atalanta, alongside Neto.
Alexei Rojas, Brian Okonkwo and Lucas Nygaard are among Arsenal’s other young goalkeepers, though the latter - another summer signing from FC Nordsjaelland in Denmark - only recently returned to training after injury.
