Premier League, Championship and FA Cup First Round action is discussed and dissected this week.

The standard debate around David Raya kicks things off, followed by Guglielmo Vicario's almost point-saving performance as Tottenham fell at home to Chelsea.

In the second tier, Illan Meslier was praised as "the best goalkeeper in the league" by boss Daniel Farke, while many a non-league goalkeeper made their name in progressing to the next stage of the FA Cup.

Goalkeeper Assist klaxon: Joe Day of Yeovil Town.

Raya and Ramsale? Again?

Yep, following the weekend's clash between Chelsea and Arsenal, that debate takes centre stage once more.

We discuss whether Mikel Arteta's current No1 was at fault for Mykhailo Mudryk's cross-cum-shot, whether criticism of his performance was justified and whether Aaron Ramsdale should be "banging the manager's door down" as some pundits have suggested.

Elsewhere in the Premier League, Alphonse Areola racked up a 50th appearance for West Ham, Alisson became the first Liverpool goalkeeper since Ray Clemence in 1976 to record four consecutive Merseyside Derby shutouts, and Guglielmo Vicario continues to earn deserved plaudits at Tottenham.

In the EFL, another summer recruit in Mads Hermansen marches on with Leicester, Sam Tickle bagged an important clean sheet for Wigan in their win at Exeter and Doncaster's Louis Jones sounded the Goalkeeper Assist klaxon.

Following on from Part One of our chat with Simon a few months, this is just a quick clean up where he talks about more of the goalkeepers he's worked with over the years.

The likes of Pavel Srnicek, Joe Hart and Martin Dubravka receive a mention, as do some lovely stories of Simon's time with Sir Bobby Robson.

As much as we all try to move on, the Raya/Ramsdale debate continues to bag headlines and, as a result, the centre of attention on this very show.

Some suggested the current Arsenal No1 looked shaky in the first-half of The Gunners' win over Man City at the weekend. Taking his entire performance into account, we argue whether such analysis was a little hasty.

In the same game, Ederson racked up his 300th appearance in English football (140 clean sheets in that time, if you're asking) while fellow countryman Alisson pulled off a Save of the Weekend contender to earn Liverpool a point at Brighton.

Seny Dieng and Middlesbrough are very much back on song in the Championship, Luke Southwood played a huge part in Cheltenham's first point in seven League One outings and Christy Pym did his homework to brilliantly save a James Tilley in the bottom tier stalemate between Mansfield and AFC Wimbledon.

Keeper Capers focuses on Olivier Giroud's cameo between the sticks for AC Milan, plus an unfortunate incident in the Thurlow Nunn League Divison One South.

A bit late this week.

With Rich over in the US, we opted to hold off until the midweek fixtures had occurred, thus including Champions League action into this episode's analysis.

Andre Onana's start to life at Manchester United is reviewed following Tuesday's home defeat to Galatasaray, a first minor slip from David Raya occurred as Arsenal lost at Lens and Napoli's Alex Meret came within a whisker of making one of the greatest-ever Champions League saves... Only to be registered with an own goal instead.

The weekend's Premier League highlights are touched upon, with Jamie Carragher's assertion that Robert Sanchez is "not good enough" for Chelsea to compete for the title, while Murphy Mahoney pulled a double save for the ages in Swindon's League Two defeat at Notts County.

In the 2020-21 campaign, one name tended to crop up a fair bit during the EFL Overview.

Affectionately referred to as "K-Leth" on the pod, Kyle Letheren's 24 appearances for Morecambe in the second half of that season were a key factor in The Shrimps' League Two Play-Off promotion.

Since then, it's been something of an itch to have him sit opposite us. An itch which, we're delighted to say, has now been scratched on a stage in a working men's club in Alvethorpe.

Kyle sat down with GKU to talk about his goalkeeping father Glan, battling to be a No1 and ambitions of reaching the very top of goalkeeper coaching.

Once again the Raya/Ramsdale debate takes centre stage in this week's episode.

With the former in for three straight games since his introduction, we discuss whether Mikel Arteta will stick to his reasoning that each stopper will be selected on a game-by-game basis - and comment on that noticeable applause offered by Ramsdale upon Raya's save from Brennan Johnson in the North London Derby.

Meanwhile, over in Brighton, Roberto De Zerbi is sticking to his word and seemingly flip-flopping Luke Steele and Bart Verbruggen as Brighton continue to plough on in the Premier League. The latter was in for the victory over Bournemouth, but did make what could have been a costly error in allowing the visitors to take the lead.

In the Championship, Ryan Allsop has replaced Matty Ingram at an in-form Hull - a big call from Liam Rosenior which so far appears to be paying off. 

Connor Ripley saved yet another penalty in Port Vale's draw at Cambridge (that's now seven from his last 12), Troy Deeney scored yet another Troy Deeney penalty and Louis Jones earns high praise upon his return to the fold at Doncaster.

Raya or Ramsdale? That is the question.

And it is a massive, potentially position-changing question in a fascinating scenario which will no doubt rumble on until the end of this season - at the very earliest. Mikel Arteta has been respectfully firm in his stance that rotating goalkeepers shouldn't be such a big deal; his argument leaning towards how the perceived No1 and No2 norm has never been called into question when, in a modern era of rapid evolution, alternating stoppers simply makes sense.

We discuss whether Arteta has a point, and how Arsenal's crucial block of games from now through to early November will provide a clear and likely marker for how the Spaniard intends to move things forward.

In other news, Don Goodman added a new term to a pundit's goalkeeping glossary during Leicester's win at Southampton, and for the first time this term we hear a Goalkeeper Assist klaxon from the National League (bravo, Louie Moulden), a Keeper Caper over in Denmark (sorry Bailey Peacock-Farrell) and, lastly, a Text Talk courtesy of the FA Cup Second Qualifying Round (thank you, Roco Rees).

Imagine making your pro debut and then having to wait five years for your next taste of action. That, right there, is the life of a goalkeeper.

Welcome to the story of Alex Cairns, current No1 at Salford City with more than 300 appearances under his belt and plenty more in the tank.

We sat with the ex-Leeds man (a few weeks BEFORE the triumphant EFL Cup outing against his former club) to discuss what makes him tick, how he tackled his long wait for first team football, goalkeeping drills à la Kasper Schmeichel and why, after establishing himself as the main man at Fleetwood, he was cast aside and left in the goalkeeping doldrums for more than half a season.

With the transfer window tidied up and normal service resuming, we reflect on all the weekend's goalkeeping action - including an injury-time epic involving Jordan "Don Corleone" Pickford at Sheffield United.

A glance is given to the best of the rest from the EFL and last week's Carabao Cup clashes, plus a final look at all the movers and shakers on Deadline Day.

NB: With Rich away on post-deadline travels (and not taking his equipment with him), this recording was conducted via Zoom.