The emergence of Wojciech Szczesny

A top save from the young keeper

The young Polish keeper has emerged in recent months to be Arsenal's number one goalkeeper. Wojciech was certainly thrown in at the deep end for his Premier League debut back in December at Old Trafford. This didn't faze the youngster at all, due to the confidence he has in his own abilities. This is different to the way Bendtner is confident as Wojciech actually does have the potential to be an Arsenal player for many years to come. He has immense potential and has already proved himself in recent months to many Arsenal fans. Wenger recentely said he is the Number 1 and in my opinion he fully deserves this. Due to Fabianski being ruled out for the rest of the season, Szczesny's only competition is Manuel Almunia and I think we all know who we would prefer in goal for the Arsenal.


Wojciech has now made 9 starts this season, and hasn't been criticised for any of these performances. He has been consistent in goal and hasn't made any glaring errors which we have been accustomed to as Arsenal fans after having Almunia and Flapianski in goal. Szczesny appears to give confidence to the back four in front of him and this has shown in recent games for Arsenal. We have kept many clean sheets since Wojciech won his place in the side, and the back four have also looked far more solid. Djourou and Koscielny have been brilliant as a central defensive partnership and this has partly been due to Szczesny's brilliant and inspiring performances in goal for the side. I strongly believe Wojciech has the potential to be the Arsenal goalkeeper for many years to come and I hope Wenger continues to keep faith in him as the Arsenal number one. 


There is only one aspect of Wojciech's game he needs to work on to continue to progress into a world class goalkeeper. This aspect is his kicking which certainly needs improvement. This was very noticeable in his debut against United, it has improved in the last couple of games but still needs to be improved. We have been losing the ball a lot from his goal kicks but I'd certainly rather that than the awful mistakes we have seen in previous seasons.

 Szczesny looks to now be the number one for the rest of the season at least and he is the exact type of player the team needs to win the title. He is very confident in his own abilities and this is something our previous goalkeepers clearly lacked. He will play an important role in big games such as the two Barcelona games, where his talent and confidence will be needed. I am sure he will continue to impress and grasp the opportunity he has been given. If he continues to progress at the rate he has he can be our number one for the next 15 years and help the team to challenge for and win many trophies.