Mikel Arteta insists he has no concerns about the prospect of Netro deputising for David Raya when Arsenal face Manchester City on Sunday. The experienced former Barcelona and Valencia goalkeeper belatedly made his debut for the Gunners last night in a 2-1 win over Girona. Raya made the trip to Spain but missed the match with an unspecified injury which paved the way for Neto to make his first appearance for the club he joined in the summer on loan from Bournemouth.

Having played for the Cherries in the early stages of the Carabao Cup, the 35-year-old has been blocked from featuring in the competition for Arsenal and with Raya cementing his status as No.1, Neto had spent the whole campaign on the bench. With his side all but through to the last 16, Arteta fielded a much changed line-up last night with Neto between the posts, but it was an inauspicious start for the veteran keeper.

Neto almost conceded in the opening minute after coming perilously close to stumbling on the ball and he was badly at fault for Arnaut Danjuma’s opener when he was marooned in no-man’s land. The error was compounded by his decision to attempt a save with his hands while he was positioned yards outside his penalty area which would have resulted in a red card had he made contact with the ball. Thankfully, after a difficult start, Neto got through the rest of the match unscathed and was bailed out by goals from Jorginho, via the penalty spot, and Ethan Nwaneri as Arsenal cemented third place behind Liverpool and Barcelona.

Raya now faces a race against time to be fit to feature against City but Arteta is confident Neto can fill the void if the Spain international fails to recover. Asked if Neto would deputise in Raya’s potential absence, the Arsenal boss said: Yes, that’s why he’s here to do that job and he’s done it for 20-odd years in his career.’. Defending his difficult start, Arteta added: ‘I’m very happy first of all that he played, it’s been seven months since he played his last match and it’s not easy so very happy that he played and we won the game.’.

Pressed for an update on Raya’s condition, he said: He certainly could not play, he’s injured and that’s it. Let’s see how it goes.’. Arteta, meanwhile, took significant encouragement from the attitude his team displayed amid talk that the job of reaching the last 16 without the need for a play-off. He said: ‘I didn’t like the noise and the conversation everything was about if you do that. If, if, if, if, if.

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video. Up Next. ‘And I just throw that all away. If, if we win, and if we do, and we are better than the opposition, we’re gonna be there for sure. ‘And we can be second. That should be the only objective. Nothing else. ‘And that’s why I demanded the players today that we play with that mentality because there is a lot of messages intrinsic in every performance.