MIKEL ARTETA has warned ex-Arsenal keeper Aaron Ramsdale to expect set-piece MIND GAMES ahead of his North London return.
Ramsdale plays at the Emirates today for the first time since swapping the Gunners for Southampton in a £25m deal this summer – ending his three-year stint.
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And he is now able to give Russell Martin’s Saints the lowdown on his old side’s potent set-piece routines that have produced 45 goals in all competitions, excluding penalties, since July 2021 – the most in Europe’s top five leagues.
Asked if Arsenal need to adapt with this in mind, Arteta said: “Probably.
“Maybe we tell [Ramsdale] that we will adapt something but then do the same thing so he thinks we’re going to adapt it! So, there’s maybe going to be some mind games.
“I’m sure that they will have discussed that. It’s not the first time that we have played against a player that was in our camp, it’s natural that it happens.
“So, we need to have the capacity to understand and continue to do our things.”
Signed from Sheffield United for £30m in August 2021, Ramsdale, 26, was Arsenal’s No.1 for two terms before being axed by last season’s new arrival David Raya from Brentford.
Raya, 29, has since proven himself to be one of the best keepers in the Premier League, winning the Golden Glove last campaign with 16 clean sheets and was awarded August’s Save of the Month.
Meanwhile, Ramsdale has so far conceded 10 goals in four outings for relegation-battling Southampton and was left out of Lee Carsley’s recent England squad.
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But Arteta admits it was “hard” to let Ramsdale leave. The Spaniard added: “I am grateful for what he did. When we signed him there was a lot of noise around him.
“We helped to create the environment he needed because we believed in his potential. He showed it and won the respect and admiration of all of us.
“And then the circumstances changed because this is elite sport and can happen. It was difficult to deal with that situation in a natural way and we decided to part ways.
“He decided he wanted to take another step in his career. I called him straight away after I got the news. He was really happy.
“He’s a player that we loved a lot, very charismatic and he really put his fingerprints here at the club in the way that he was. It will be very good to see him.”
Ramsdale has revealed his main motivation for leaving title-chasing Arsenal was to stop sitting on the bench, even if that means missing out on future silverware.
He explained: “If I was sitting on the bench, winning a trophy wouldn’t have meant that much to me.
“I just wanted to play football. As a kid I wanted to play football to play, not to just sit on a bench. Getting out and playing was my aim.
“So, I’m lucky I found myself here at Southampton.”
Ramsdale has also put to bed any rumours that there were any bad feelings between himself and his replacement Raya – even if being picked up by cameras during games annoyed him.
Ramsdale said: “It used to do my head in coming off the pitch and then my wife would say you were on TV five times today.
“After [Raya] made a save or a goal went in and [the camera] would pan to me on the bench. I do think the story was bigger than what it needed to be.
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“It put pressure on David at times as well. I did an interview with David Seaman after my new contract. I said I wanted to emulate him an be there for eight to 10 years.
“A couple of months later I was out of the team. I tried my hardest to dislodge David but I do think now the rewards are showing.
“He’s started the season incredibly well. He was actually the first person to text me from Arsenal after my move here.
“He was great and he was top. Like I say he’s made some big, big saves this season and kept them in some games. Just desperate he doesn’t have one of those games [today].”
Ramsdale has defended Saints boss Martin’s style of play – one that sees the club with one point from six games in lowly 19th.
During their 3-1 defeat to Bournemouth on Monday, Southampton had 60 per cent possession but just three shots on target.
Ramsdale said: “Martin is top. His enthusiasm, the way he wants to play, the way he wants to do things – he’s going to stick by it.
“He’s not going to change because other people say he needs to.”
Arteta has also come out in defence of Martin’s approach, having seen this style help Southampton go 25 games unbeaten on their way to Prem promotion last term.
Arteta argued: “I understand what [Martin] wants to do and why he does it.
“It is very difficult to coach it and, at the level that he has done it, to perform, it was a joy to watch [in the Championship].
“You need a lot of courage and I love that. When he was winning a lot of games nobody was talking about that and when you lose it is too much.
“They’ve been very unlucky not to have many more points because there were moments in the game where they have far better than the opponents.”
Arsenal are unlikely to have Jurrien Timber [muscular] and Ben White [groin] at their disposal, while skipper Martin Odegaard [ankle] and Oleksandr Zinchenko [calf] remain out until after the international break.
