Why Ospina should keep his Arsenal place ahead of Szczesny
Arsenal’s Wojciech Szczesny has spent the last few games on the bench having been dropped in place of Colombian goal keeper David Ospina who has kept three clean sheets against Hull City in the FA Cup, and Stoke City and Manchester City in the Premier League since stepping in. While Ospina’s opportunity may have come about due to Szczesny’s transgressions off the pitch, a quick look at the performance of both keepers over the two prior seasons suggests that Ospina has maintained a stronger record between the posts.
Ospina vs Szczesny Goal Keeper Statistics over the past two seasons:
In the 2012/2013 season, Ospina averaged 1.81 saves per goal conceded (while at Nice in France’s Ligue 1) while Szczesny averaged 1.75 saves per goal for Arsenal. Goals conceded per 90 were almost equal for both keepers at 1.02 and 0.96 for Ospina and Szcsesny respectively. During the more recent 2013/2014 season, Ospina completely out-performed Arsenal’s Polish Custodian in the saves per goal category with 3.39 compared to Szczesny’s 1.95, and also conceded fewer goals per 90 (0.91 compared to 1.11). Given Ospina’s statistical superiority over the past two seasons as well as a strong performance at the 2014 World Cup, he is certainly deserving of an opportunity to show what he can do at Arsenal, and so far he is off to a good start.
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