arsenal manager mikel arteta insists goalkeeper david raya's form is not a concern, despite some costlyesday, before arsenal eventually won 4—3. arteta, in effect, has two number ones, with raya and aaron ramsdale, as well as backup in karl hein — but he sees no issue and refuses to criticise raya. what he has achieved with us, he's really impressive. but what can i say? i have great goalkeepers. i'm really happy i have great wingers, some of them on the bench. but we have to accept that as well, we have to support our players and the best possible way, we have to protect them and we have to get the best out of them. so i will focus much more on that end of a player needs to write support in the right love and they deserve that. many have questioned whether arteta can keep both raya and ramsdale happy. former england women's goalkeeper rachel brown—finnis thinks it must be tricky to balance. unless mikel arteta has had a clear and honest— unless mikel arteta has had a clear and honest conversations and both goalkeepers are happy, content with the situation of what is going to happen— th

earlier, two david raya mistakes had seen a see saw encounter swing in favour of the hosts, who twiceto win when elijah adebayo and ross barkley scored in an eight—minute period after the break. however, the hatters were denied a valuable point when rice met martin odegaard's cross in the seventh minute of stoppage time, 23 seconds after the six official minutes added on had expired. the result leaves luton 17th, but arsenal extend their lead at the top. firstly, i want to congratulate luton, you know, the players, the coaching staff, the atmosphere they generated. it was a special night to play football. they made life really hard for us. you say that, obviously. we conceded the goals we didn't want to concede on set plays, that is one of the main threats, but they have done it. it is because they have worked on and are so good and it made us really fight for the game. i think we grow and grow in the game. we started to get control, dominance, chances, and at the end it finishes in a beautiful way. immensely proud of the lads but, yeah, you're right, disappointed and really flat at t

declan rice, the gunners hero with a header in the last seconds of added time earlier to david raya,s had seen a seesaw encounter swing in favour of the hosts who twice fought back and threatened to win when elijah adebayo and ross barkley scored in an eight minute period after the break. however, the hatters denied a valuable point and rice met martin odegaard's cross in the seventh minute of stoppage time, 23 seconds, incidentally, after the six official minutes added on had expired. the result leaves luton in 17th, but arsenal extend their lead at the top. first of all, i congratulate luton. you know, the players, coaches and staff, the atmosphere will that they generated, it was a special night to play football. they made life really hard for us. it's true that obviously we conceded the goals that we didn't want to concede on set plays. that is one of the main threats. but they've done it and it's because they work on and they are so good and that made us really fight for the game. i think we grow and grow in the game. we started to get control, dominance, chances, and at the end

arsenal manager mikel arteta insists goalkeeper david raya's form is not a concern, despite some costlygifted luton two goals on tuesday, before arsenal eventually won 4—3. arteta, in effect, has two number ones, with raya and aaron ramsdale, as well as back up in karl hein — but he sees no issue and refuses to criticise raya. what can i say? i have three great goalkeepers, i'm really happy, i have great wingers, some of them are on the bench but we have to accept that. we have to support our players in the best possible way. we have to protect them and we have to get the best out of them. i will focus much more on that, that every player needs the might support on the right love. they deserve that. in basketball, a lebronjames inspired los angeles lakers cruied past the new orleans pelicans 133—89 on thursday night to reach the championship game in the nba in—season tournament. james scored 30 points in less than three quarters as the lakers brushed aside their opponents. they will play the indiana pacers in saturday's inaugural nba cup after they beat the milwaukee bucks 128—119 in th

two david raya mistakes helped luton take an unlikely lead in the 57th minute at kenilworth road. 3—2r long. arsenal responded through kai havertz who drew them level before rice's winning moment. so it's over to liverpool who play sheffield united and manchester city who are at aston villa tonight. well, despite three league draws in a row, pep guardiola still insists his team are playing well enough to retain their premier league title. they've fallen six points behind leaders arsenal and they're also one behind liverpool. but the manchester city manager insists his confidence doesn't equate to psychological warfare. my my game is played better than the opponents. my games, ten, 15 minutes, chances, chances, the opponent is affected because we are much better than them. the manager control the emotion of the players before and after? no chance. to win is to play better than them. start the game and play better, this is the game and play better, this is the main game. i the game and play better, this is the main game.— the main game. i don't think a second about... _ the main game. i

coming up on bbc news: arsenal manager mikel arteta says he has full confidence in goalkeeper david rayasdale, happy. saudi arabia's sports minister has told the bbc that accusations of sportswashing against the country are �*very shallow�*. critics say unprecedented spending on sport is being used to distract from concerns over the country's record on human rights. but the saudi government insisted the investment was boosting the economy and inspiring people to be more active. here's our sports editor, dan roan. from a revamped football league luring some of the biggest names in the game, and the hosting of boxing's biggest fights, to an attempted takeover of golf — jon rahm the latest player to sign up to a breakaway series — saudi arabia is spending billions of pounds transforming the sporting landscape. and, with the country also set to host the world cup in 2034, the man overseeing this sporting revolution told me what lay behind the investment. our ambition is to host the best events around the world and the kingdom for the people of the kingdom to see, but also to invite the world

could even afford to miss a late penalty conceded by their ex—captain declan rice and saved by david rayas when we got a chance on the counterattack or from the corner kick, we got something from it. and, you know, football — if football was only played one way and it was all about everybody scoring, then it wouldn't be as good. so we had to do a really good job defensively tonight on arsenal, which we did do. we've been really consistent again. i think we have won a lot of games. we need to win even more games, because today that for me is another one that we should not manage to to lose it. but this is football. we have to improve in certain areas and we'll try to do so. it was also a tough night for arsenal's local rivals tottenham, as they lost a thriller to brighton. jack hinshelwood with the pick of their first half goals. although brighton's best was yet to come — a wonder goal from pervis estupinan, which looked better with every replay. and whenjoao pedro made it 4—0 from the penalty spot, spurs' misery seemed complete. finally, they stirred with two quickfire goals, including th

i'll tell you what was interesting is david raya again, you know, the goalkeeper who .replaced aaron who. yeah, he's replaced aaron ramsdale and he's had a few clangers. but. but arteta old captain black loves him and he's sticking. he's sticking with him because i think he is a mystery . because i think he is a mystery. i think raya i think this is how he's managed to get away with, um, martin kemp yesterday at he's managed to get away with, um, auditioniemp yesterday at he's managed to get away with, um, audition that yesterday at he's managed to get away with, um, audition that i esterday at he's managed to get away with, um, audition that i wasrday at he's managed to get away with, um, audition that i was sitting this audition that i was sitting beside both he beside him and we both agree he is captain because he's an is captain black because he's an arsenal isn't he? arsenal fan, isn't he? >> martin kemp is, yeah. he's >> martin kemp he is, yeah. he's a he's also a news viewer. a big he's also a news viewer. oh, he? oh, is he? >> as he watches us from his gym down