By Kalu Onyemaechi
Legendary Peter Schmeichel has expressed his admiration for Aaron Ramsdale’s acrobatic save in Arsenal’s 0-2 victory over Leicester City at the King Power Stadium on Saturday.
“Best save I’ve seen for years by Ramsdale”, Schmeichel tweeted with clapping emojis.
The former Denmark and Manchester United goalkeeper was objective enough to acknowledge the heroics of the Arsenal shot-stopper while his own son, Kasper Schmeichel, was at the receiving end of first-half goals from Gabriel and Emile Smith Rowe which sealed the win for the Gunners, who now move up to fifth in the Premier League and are now nine games unbeaten in all competitions.
In context, it is worthy of note that among the goalkeepers to have faced more than two shots on target this season, only Edouard Mendy (89.7%) is enjoying a higher save percentage than Arsenal’s Aaron Ramsdale (85.7%). He’s saved 24 of the 28 shots on target he has faced.
The 23-year-old’s biggest save came in the first half as he pulled off an acrobatic stop to deny James Maddison’s free kick before getting across quickly to keep out Jonny Evans’ follow-up effort.
When asked about his save from Maddison after the game, Ramsdale replied: “Maddison is a top free-kick taker and I’ve come up against him a couple of times.
“It was just one of those days that I was saving everything that was thrown at me and the lads were blocking [the rest of] them.”
Mikel Arteta’s side has Ramsdale to thank after the £30 million summer signing delivered yet another brilliant performance in goal in their surge to the summit of the league table.
Whether they can secure a Champions League spot at the end of the season is still uncertain but we cannot deny there is a chance.
