Arsenal goalkeepers Aaron Ramsdale and David Raya have opened up about their competition and relationship at the club as they battle for the No 1 spot.
Raya joined Arsenal on an initial loan deal from Brentford in the summer and has become the starting goalkeeper for Mikel Arteta's side, meaning Ramsdale has had to settle for a place on the bench in recent weeks.
Ramsdale told The Guardian while on international duty: "We work professionally really well together. We push each other in training and there's days where I come in and I'm down because of the situation and he picks me up.
"And for whatever reason there might be a day where he's down, and even though I'm suffering and hurting for not playing, I have to stand up and be able to push him."
See: Has Arteta made right call replacing Ramsdale with Raya?
A healthy relationship
In an interview with The Athletic, also while on international duty, Raya insisted too that his relationship with Ramsdale was positive.
"It's very good," he said. "At the end of the day, we are mates, which is the important thing. We have a healthy relationship. There are no problems.
"We push each other every day in training: when he's a little bit down, I push him, and when I'm a little bit down [he does the same]. We train three goalkeepers, four at the most, for hours a week, and you need that kind of relationship because otherwise, the training is not going to go well."
All eyes have been on Ramsdale since Raya replaced him in the starting line-up. The England international was seen clapping Raya after he made a great save to deny Brennan Johnson from scoring in the north London derby.
Ramsdale has explained the difficulty of trying to react in the right way, and how it can be wrongly portrayed.
"It's one of the first times it's happened with the situation, it has been difficult," he said.
"There are times where you're doing the right thing but it's the wrong thing, and if you don't do it it's the wrong thing. So it's a double-edged sword."
