David Raya Nominated for Premier League Save of the Season

David Raya’s season of safe hands has earned another nod, this time on the biggest domestic stage of all.

The Arsenal goalkeeper has been shortlisted for the Premier League’s Save of the Season award for his spectacular stop against Brighton & Hove Albion, a moment that underlined why he finished the campaign with the Golden Glove.

A fingertip that changed everything

In December’s 2-1 win over Brighton, with tension tightening around the Emirates, Raya produced the kind of intervention that defines a title-chasing goalkeeper. Yankubah Minteh cut inside and shaped a curling effort towards the top left corner, the sort of strike that usually draws gasps before it even hits the net.

Raya refused to play along with the script.

He exploded to his right, arcing across his goal, and at full stretch managed to flick the ball away with the fingertips of his right hand. It was a save of timing, technique and sheer defiance, the ball clawed away from a destination that looked inevitable.

That stop earned him December’s Premier League Save of the Month award and pushed him joint top of the all-time leaderboard for monthly winners. He now sits alongside Andre Onana and Jordan Pickford, each with three Save of the Month awards to their name.

Elite company for a standout season

Now comes the season-long verdict. Raya’s Brighton heroics are up against a strong field for the Save of the Season prize, a roll call that underlines the standard of goalkeeping across the league.

The Arsenal No 1 is nominated alongside James Trafford, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Martin Dubravka, Jordan Pickford, Alphonse Areola, Aaron Ramsdale, Karl Darlow and Antonin Kinsky.

For Raya, whose consistency and big-game moments helped secure the Golden Glove, this nomination is more than a highlight reel clip. It is recognition that, in a season packed with spectacular saves, his instinctive leap to deny Minteh belongs right at the top of the pile.