{"id":204340,"date":"2025-10-16T14:20:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T14:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/204340\/"},"modified":"2025-10-16T14:20:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T14:20:10","slug":"move-aside-declan-rice-joe-hart-says-excellent-arsenal-player-is-a-real-leader-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/204340\/","title":{"rendered":"Move aside Declan Rice, Joe Hart says \u2018excellent\u2019 Arsenal player is a \u2018real leader\u2019 now"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Arsenal have started the season in hugely impressive form, and Joe Hart has highlighted one of Mikel Arteta\u2019s top players who has really stepped up.<\/p>\n

After seven matches, the Gunners lead the way in the Premier League, sitting one point above the reigning champions, Liverpool.<\/p>\n

Mikel Arteta\u2019s<\/a> team recorded a routine 2-0 win over West Ham United just before the October international break, and next up is a trip to Craven Cottage.<\/p>\n

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The North London club\u2019s squad is now really starting to come together, and according to Joe Hart, one player has seriously impressed him.<\/p>\n

\"DavidPhoto by Catherine Ivill \u2013 AMA\/Getty ImagesJoe Hart has been impressed by David Raya\u2019s leadership at Arsenal<\/p>\n

Hart has been impressed by the leadership David Raya<\/a> has shown at Arsenal<\/a> this season.<\/p>\n

Raya, who\u2019s been offered a new contract by Arsenal<\/a>, has been one of the team\u2019s top performers this season and already has four clean sheets in four games.<\/p>\n

The former Premier League goalkeeper also claims that the Spaniard is \u2018in the upper echelon\u2019 of shotstoppers right now.<\/p>\n

Speaking about the Arsenal shot stopper, Hart told The Breakdown: \u201cHe\u2019s in the upper echelon. Of course, he\u2019s going to need trophies to back it up. I think that goes without saying, that\u2019s not a knock on him. Technically excellent, quick, he\u2019s a real leader.<\/p>\n

Raya was tasked with replacing Aaron Ramsdale<\/a> at Arsenal, which was a big call from the manager, but a gamble which Hart claims has paid off.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can see on the pitch, he\u2019s really established himself at Arsenal. You know, it was a tough act to follow. Aaron Ramsdale had built up an affinity with the Arsenal fans. He\u2019s a good character. He\u2019s English. He looked like he was going to get an opportunity, maybe with the England team,\u201d stated Hart.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, it was a big call to bring him in, but he\u2019s been excellent since he\u2019s come in. He\u2019s been improving all the time. His coach believes in him, and the most important thing for me to see is that his defence believes in him.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cThey know the positions he\u2019s going to be in. They know the times they can give shots up. They\u2019re in a really good flow, and I think as a foundation, Arsenal have built that, and with what they\u2019ve brought in as well up top, they\u2019re dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Owen Hargreaves thinks Arsenal have the \u2018best collection\u2019 of centre-backs<\/p>\n

Another area in which the Gunners excel is at centre-back, and Owen Hargreaves now believes Arsenal have the \u2018best collection\u2019 of defenders in the league.<\/p>\n

Arteta has collated Gabriel Magalhaes<\/a>, William Saliba, Jurrien Timber, Riccardo Calafiori, Cristhian Mosquera, Piero Hincapie and Ben White as their list of options.<\/p>\n

TeamGoals concededArsenal3Tottenham5Crystal Palace5Newcastle United5Man City6Least goals conceded in the Premier League 25\/26 season<\/p>\n

Mosquera and Hincapie were the latest two players to be added to Arsenal\u2019s squad over the summer, with the former having already shown his quality.<\/p>\n

Speaking about Hincapie, Hargreaves claimed: \u201cHe\u2019s a great player. That\u2019s the best collection of centre-backs in the whole league. Easily. Van Dijk is still the best. I think those two (Gabriel and Saliba), plus the back-ups.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Arsenal have started the season in hugely impressive form, and Joe Hart has highlighted one of Mikel Arteta\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":204341,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[220,73319,12332,1725,218,72238,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-204340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-arsenal","tag-david-raya","tag-declan-rice","tag-english-premier-league","tag-football","tag-joe-hart","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=204340"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204340\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/204341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=204340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=204340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}