'He’s very critical of himself'

Aaron Ramsdale has kept an impressive 14 clean sheets for us this season, but that's still seemingly not enough for our stopper to award himself a pat on the back.

Our England international conceded twice in our 2-0 defeat to Liverpool on Wednesday night, including a Diogo Jota goal at his near post, and Mikel Arteta revealed in his pre-match press conference ahead of Saturday's trip to Aston Villa exactly how our goalkeeper has responded to his performance.

"Oddly, he was gutted after the match," Arteta said. "It’s normal because he’s such a competitive boy, but he needs to realise that this is going to happen in your career. At this stage, and if you play for the national team, probably you are going to have a moment when you do something, and then instead of some part of the country, it will be the whole country (on your back).

"If you want to be at the top for 10, 15 or 20 years you have to be prepared for that. It’s about how you react in those moments.

"He wants to be there the next day, he wants to go and practice. He wants to see it. He’s very critical of himself so sometimes he needs to have some help to put things into perspective, and for him to realise as well how much he has contributed to the team."

Ramsdale's good recent form was rewarded with a call-up to the latest England squad ahead of the Three Lions' March friendlies, and the boss was asked where our stopper now ranks among the goalkeeping options that Gareth Southgate has at his disposal.

"He is there now and he’s going to be fighting for a place," Arteta said. "Knowing Aaron he’s going to be pushing very hard because it’s one of his dreams, and then it will be down to the coaching staff and the manager to decide if he will be number one."