Wojciech Szczesny will miss both games, home and away, against Anderlecht in the Champions League after his red card against Galatasaray last Wednesday.

The Poland international’s sending off, yet again for a similar incident to ones that received his marching orders against Bayern Munich and Greece, has brought up the debate regarding the ‘keeper’s No.1 spot between the sticks.

David Ospina came on, and although his first action was to get the ball from out of his net, many felt the Colombian international’s performance will certainly have given Arsene Wenger some food for thought.

I think if we are honest with ourselves, we overhyped the former Nice stopper’s impact due to that fact that he needs to be more than adequate to replace Wojciech and also, wouldn’t it be lovely to have two world-class goalkeepers?

Ospina no doubt backs his ability, and certainly wouldn’t have moved to the Emirates content with a place on the bench, however, I’m not sure Le Professeur really considers the 26-year-old as a real alternative to Szczesny, at the moment anyway.

Arsene Wenger has always liked a high risk, high reward strategy with his No.1s – Jens Lehmann as a case in point – Wenger seems willing to take such things as the sending off against Galatasaray in order to accommodate the Pole’s quick distribution and sweeper-keeper style.

Once Szczesny’s ban is over, there isn’t a doubt in my mind, no matter how well Ospina performs against the Belgium outfit, that Woj will be reinstated between the sticks.

Szczesny is still learning and developing as a goalie and he has the right attitude and personality to thrive as one the game’s best shot-stoppers, as with anyone learning their trade, you will have teething problems but, as we’ve seen, they will become less and less – I guess what I’m saying is, you’ve got to be patient and view the long-term plan.

That’s not to say it isn’t great for Arsenal fans to see one of the World Cup’s star performers sitting on the bench as an option should Szczesny suffer an injury or a severe loss of form.

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