Saturday 12 May 2012

Arsenal can rely on Fab if Szczeny's not back

With just one day to go until the biggest game of our season, the last thing I wanted to read is that Wojciech Szczeny is a doubt for the West Brom game. I was wondering why Szczeny had let in a couple of soft goals against Norwich, but now it seems a back injury was hampering his movements.

Unfortunately, his probable replacement, Lukasz Fabianski, is also hampered. However, the Arsenal number 2 is hampered by nerves. As The Metro pointed out, much to my chagrin and Fabianski's no doubt, the nervous Pole is 'unreliable'.

That's too harsh! We can rely on Fabianski to make mistakes. That's a given. So if he does play against West Brom, the rest of the team had better shape up.

We're going to need a hat-trick from Robin van Persie to win at West Brom as I can virtually guarantee that Fabianski will let in two goals. He'll make a couple of saves, of course, to keep in Monsieur Wenger's good books, but ultimately unless we're on fire upfront, it's not going to be enough.

A lot of people are predicting a score draw against the Baggies and I'm tempted to agree. However, if there's a fully-fit Szczeny between the sticks then I think we might edge it.

We'll need to, as although Harry Redknapp says Spurs will get no favours from their ex-boss Martin Jol, the truth is Fulham's record is abysmal at White Hart Lane. Well, according to Alan Mullery anyway. He should know as he played for both clubs and I bet he's been following them avidly ever since.

I hope the Arsenal board and Wenger have learned something from this season. Firstly, they should now realise you can't keep asset-stripping a squad and expect it to compete for trophies. And secondly, they should realise it's extremely risky to go into a season with only one keeper capable of competing at this level.

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