Declan Rice's epic goal line clearance after Aaron Ramsdale's huge error v Brentford | OneFootball

Highlights

Aaron Ramsdale has had a difficult 2023/24 season. Despite playing an integral role as Arsenal came ever so close to winning the Premier League in the 2022/23 campaign, Mikel Arteta decided to sign David Raya on loan from Brentford in the summer. The Englishman started the season as the first-choice goalkeeper but, after a string of unconvincing performances, Arteta decided to drop Ramsdale to the bench and make Raya the starter.

Ramsdale has seen opportunities hard to come by in recent times but, with Raya unavailable to play against his parent club, Ramsdale was given a chance to impress in Arsenal's game against Brentford on Saturday afternoon.

But disaster ever so nearly struck 12 minutes into the match after he made an awful error. Ramsdale had possession in his box and had no Brentford players anywhere near him. However, Ramsdale took too long on the ball and his hesitance allowed Yoanne Wissa to close him down and steal the ball from him.

The Brentford forward laid the ball back to Bryan Mbuemo and it looked almost certain that the Cameroonian would find the back of the net and break the deadlock. However, Ramsdale was rescued by Declan Rice, who made up a lot of ground and then produced an epic goal line clearance to ensure the score remained goalless. Watch Ramsdale's awful mistake and Rice's heroic clearance below...

The cameras panned to Mikel Arteta on the sidelines and he didn't look too impressed at all. And you can't really blame him; it was a poor mistake and one that would have been punished if it wasn't for the brilliance of Rice.

Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher react to Aaron Ramsdale's mistake vs Brentford

Ramsdale's mistake caught the attention of Sky Sports pundits, Gary Neville and Jamiie Carragher. Taking to X (former Twitter), Neville suggested Arteta was at fault for the English goalkeeper's error. He wrote:

Carragher, meanwhile, disagreed with that notion and branded any blame on Arteta as 'nonsense'. He wrote:

Arsenal edge past Brentford thanks to late goal

It looked as if Arsenal would have to settle for a point against Brentford, but Kai Havertz had other ideas. The German forward, who entered the fray in the 79th minute, scored the only goal of the game with a minute remaining as he headed home Bukayo Saka's cross.

That means Arsenal have leapfrogged Liverpool and Manchester City to the summit of the Premier League table. Ramsdale will be happy that he kept a clean sheet but it is unlikely that he will retain his place in Arsenal's next match, which comes on Wednesday when they take on Lens.