Manuel Almunia out of Champions League clash
Arsenal goalkeeper Manuel Almunia will miss the Champions League match against Partizan Belgrade on Tuesday due to an elbow injury.
The Spanish goalkeeper picked up the knock during Arsenal's 3-2 Premier League defeat to West Brom. Lukasz Fabianski will take the number one slot for the difficult Belgrade tie.
"Manuel is very low, he was disappointed to have lost the game [against West Brom]. Everyone felt the same, because we had a good opportunity and we didn't take it," Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said
Arsenal will miss Almunia for his experience of playing in Europe. However, Fabianski should relish the chance he has been given because it would have been unexpected.
A good opportunity
Almunia will be missed because he has a great deal of experience playing for Arsenal. Almunia has played 106 times for Arsenal, which includes a number of appearances in the Champions League. The Arsenal
defence is going to miss his vocal presence in a hostile atmosphere.
However, Fabianski now has a chance to come in and stake a claim for the number one jersey. The 25-year-old should feel that now is the time to try and make something of his Arsenal career. He's only made
13 appearances for the club, which is poor as he's been at Arsenal since 2007.
Fabianski is a very good shot-stopper but he must do more to command the defence in front of him. He shouldn't need any prompting to be loud and energetic in the Champions League match to have a positive
effect on the defence. He will be chomping at the bit for an extended run of games.
"He has a problem with his elbow. He caught it when he made the penalty on Saturday. But we are a good side and we will bounce back and I think we will have a good game in Belgrade, " added Wenger
Betting advice
Arsenal is still the heavy favourite to win the European match in Belgrade. Fabianski shouldn't have too much to do and it will be more a question of how much chances Arsenal creates to score. Arsenal
should win comfortably.
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