Maty Ryan makes memorable Arsenal return as Mikel Arteta explains his recall

Socceroos goalkeeper Maty Ryan made his second appearance for Arsenal in a dramatic 1-1 draw with Fulham on Sunday. 

The Australian made his debut for the Gunners over two months ago in a loss to Aston Villa but was brought back into the side at the expense of first-choice Bernd Leno. 

Ryan was relatively untested for much of the match until Fulham’s Josh Maja converted an unstoppable penalty in the 59th minute. 

Then in the seventh and final minute of injury time, the Socceroo went up for a corner with his flicked-on header ultimately seeing Eddie Nketiah tap home at the death. 

“Never say die! Not good enough having dropped points and to have put ourselves in that situation, but a positive sign we kept going til the very end,” Ryan tweeted post-match. 

After a solid stretch stuck on the bench, Ryan showed little rust on his return to action with Arteta revealing post-match the Aussie had given him no choice but to hand him more minutes. 

“I picked him because he totally deserves to play, he trains like a beast, he’s got the right attitude and he needed a game. It was a great header,” Arteta said. 

“Arsenal deserved three points, without a doubt. You have to respect every opinion but you ask me my opinion and I tell you that we totally deserved to win the match, and you have to look back at the chances we created, two goals disallowed, and we conceded with one shot on target.” 

While Ryan didn’t have much to do between the sticks, his telling contribution at the other end has further endeared him to the Arsenal faithful, who have been calling for the Socceroo to be given another chance to play. 

The Gunners next face Everton on Saturday morning (AEST) before turning their attention to Villareal for the first leg of their Europa League semi-final.