William Saliba was every Arsenal fan as he watched David Raya's botched punch almost fly into the goalkeeper's own net.
The Gunners secured a 2-1 victory over Sevilla in their Champions League clash on Tuesday thanks to goals from Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus.
But Nemanja Gudelj's bullet header around the hour mark made for a tense finish in Seville, with the Spanish side having a number of chances to draw level.
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Few more so than when Raya elected to punch a cross away from the danger zone, only to see the ball spin off off his gloves and go backwards, landing on the roof of the net.
It was a heart-in-mouth moment for Gunners fans, and centre-back Saliba lived every second of it.
The Frenchman, who was helpless to stopping the direction of the ball, hilariously bent his legs and raised his arms as he watched events unfold in front of him.
Raya's awkward punch marked the latest of a series of errors the Spain international has made since making the loan move from Brentford over the summer.
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Th 28-year-old gifted Lens their first goal during Arsenal's 2-1 Champions League defeat. While he was at fault for Mykhailo Mudryk's looping finish in the Gunners' 2-2 draw with Chelsea on Saturday.
Addressing Raya's shaky start to life in north London, Mikel Arteta told reporters: “Errors are part of football; mistakes happen from defenders, strikers and goalkeepers.”
“That’s the pressure of playing at a big club where you have to win, you have to be at your best level and you have someone alongside you who is pushing you every day.
“If we go player by player and position by position, you will say to me: ‘What’s happening at left-back? What’s happening with the holding midfielder?’ That’s the beauty of the game and that’s the debate as well. And the fact that you have other options is going to make all that talk more frequent.”
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Topics: William Saliba, Arsenal, Football, Champions League, Sevilla
Joe Adams