Penalty save makes David Raya Dream Team’s leading goalkeeper — will he stay on top all season?

IT has become a familiar sight for experienced Dream Team managers.

David Raya (£5.1m) has taken his customary place at the top of the goalkeeper rankings after a world-class penalty save against Sunderland.

The score was 0-0 when the Black Cats were awarded a spot-kick in the 55th minute at the Stadium of Light for an Ezri Konsa (£3.9m) foul on Dan Ballard (£3.1m).

Enzo Le Fee (£3.2m), who scored a penalty against Brentford in Gameweek 3, stepped up and struck his effort firmly towards the bottom corner but Arsenal’s No1 got down to his left and palmed the ball onto the post.

This proved to be a momentum-shifting moment as a little over two minutes later, the Gunners took the lead through Bruno Guimaraes (£3.6m).

Bukayo Saka (£6m) finished the job in stoppage time with a penalty as Mikel Arteta’s side maintained their 100% record at the start of 2026/27 with a 2-0 win on the road.

MOST POINTS AMONG DREAM TEAM GOALKEEPERS

38 pts – David Raya
32 pts – Jordan Pickford
30 pts – Konstantinos Tzolakis
25 pts – Gigi Donnarumma
25 pts – James Trafford

Raya has kept four clean sheets in his first five appearances of the campaign — an ominous tally given injuries to key defensive team-mates.

The Spaniard has racked up clean sheets for fun since his move to the Emirates, hence why he started this season as the outright most expensive player in his position.

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Truth be told, many of his points have been earned without much effort, such is the protection provided by Gabriel (£5.7m) and company.

But Raya was full value for his 12-point haul at Sunderland and, now he’s the leading performer in his position, it may be that he sits the throne for the remainder of the campaign.

With an ownership of 26.7%, the 30-year-old is the most popular goalkeeper in the game by a wide margin.

Gaffers without him between the sticks will already be thinking about when might be the right time to recruit him.

The majority of Dream Team bosses know that Raya is the end goal in his position it’s just that keepers are generally seen as a lower priority, especially at the start of the season when budgetary constraints are more of a factor.

The counterargument is that those who forked out for the premium option have already seen ample returns and have essentially got ahead of their rivals, who will have to earmark a transfer to get Raya at some stage.

Elsewhere, three Arsenal defenders – Gabriel, Ben White (£5m) and Riccardo Calafiori (£4.9m) – are among the top ten performers in their position while Kai Havertz (£4.7m) ranks eighth among forwards.

In midfield, Saka and Martin Odegaard (£5m) are among the top six points scorers with the former jumping up to fourth with his 12-point return at the Stadium of Light.

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Monday 14 September

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