In an ideal world there would be no issue for Arsène as he picks today’s starting 11. His number one keeper is reported to be back to full fitness. It is a natural choice to select him over his third choice keeper who has stood in for a few weeks.
However, this is Arsenal and things are never really that simple for us. Before his “chest infection” Manuel was not at the top of his game. He had made one or two good saves but he also looked a bit shakey and nowhere near the form, and confidence, you would expect of a first choice keeper in a top Premier League side. He contracted a “chest infection” and some of the Arsenal forums went into meltdown (again) with the prospect of our third choice, and as yet untested, keeper Vito Mannone starting between the sticks. However young Vito did very very well. He surprised many people, I include myself in that, with some outstanding performances. We would not have won the Fulham game without his performance, there is no doubt about that. He is young, and his decisions show that sometimes but he has stepped up to the plate when asked and has been a great deputy.
So today Arsène has a real headache. Does he drop Vito who is on form? It is a natural choice to do so, but Alumina did not really have the form before he missed the games. Is this the wake-up call that Manuel needed? I suspect he had become comfortable knowing that the much younger keepers behind him in the pecking order provided very little in the way of competition, but one of them has certainly proved that to be wrong. When the teamsheet is announced today it will be very interesting, and something that at the moment I am unable to call.
