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Rio Ferdinand has explained how the absence of \u201cbest in the world\u201d David Raya highlighted a \u201cbig issue\u201d for Arsenal in their Carabao Cup final defeat to Manchester City on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Kepa Arrizabalaga retained his spot in the Gunners\u2019 starting XI having played in the previous rounds but made a costly mistake (he normally does in cup finals<\/strong>) which was pounced upon by Nico O\u2019Reilly, before the academy graduate scored a second goal to secure the trophy for City and deny Arsenal the quadruple.<\/p>\n READ MORE: 16 Conclusions on Manchester City beating bottling Arsenal in the Carabao Cup final<\/strong><\/p>\n Mikel Arteta defended his decision to select Kepa over David Raya, who\u2019s been outstanding again for Arsenal this season; a key cog both in the Premier League and Champions League.<\/p>\n But Ferdinand believes Arteta will be regretting his \u201csentimental\u201d decision as he claims the \u201cbig issue\u201d for Arsenal wasn\u2019t Kepa\u2019s mistake but his relative lack of ability to play through or over the Manchester City press.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can talk about Kepa\u2019s mistake but those can happen in any game,\u201d Manchester United and England legend Ferdinand said on his podcast.<\/p>\n \u201cBut more than anything he was the big issue in terms of Arsenal getting through the press.<\/p>\n \u201cI think right now David Raya is the best goalkeeper in world football and if he plays, his distribution would have been a big, big factor in that game.<\/p>\n \u201cHe would have played over Man City\u2019s press, he would have played through at times, he would have taken risks and would have been able to put an element of doubt into City\u2019s press.<\/p>\n \u201cGiving an opposition that kind of mindset makes them less convinced sometimes and gives them less conviction when they\u2019re trying to carry out Pep\u2019s tactical approach.<\/p>\n \u201cArsenal didn\u2019t deal with that bit of pressure one bit.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think Mikel Arteta will look back and think he was too sentimental.<\/p>\n \u201cI know he\u2019s played in the previous rounds but I don\u2019t agree with it. Man City could afford to because they\u2019ve won enough trophies recently but Arsenal are trying to build a winning culture.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Arsenal starboy looks \u2018physically gone\u2019; put him in \u2018finishers\u2019 category now<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThis was a big moment, the first trophy on offer in the season and he\u2019s let it slip through his fingers.<\/p>\n \u201cThe mistake was bad but tactically it was obvious to see that David Raya would have been a mark-up because of his ability with his feet.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can talk about how good Raya is at shot-stopping and claiming crosses but his bravery on the ball has been sensational this year and that would have altered Man City\u2019s tactics.<\/p>\n \u201cArsenal have been a confident back-four and Raya makes it a confident back-five. The frailties at the back given Kepa\u2019s mistake and his inability to play out was glaring to see.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/div>\n