Ex-Liverpool hero: I’m surprise Arsenal picked Wojciech Szczesny

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Former Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy said he was surprised Arsenal had faith in Wojciech Szczesny.

While Manchester United’s David de Gea was adding to his expanding showreel of acrobatic saves at one end of the pitch, Wojciech Szczesny was kept under worked at the other.

The Pole was only asked to make five saves from a disappointing Manchester United attack, although did not manage to stop one of the goal bound efforts finding the net, a header from striker Wayne Rooney.

Szczesny was back in the side, having recently been demoted to second choice in favour of David Ospina, but has been picked throughout Arsenal’s FA Cup campaign.

BBC Radio analyst Danny Murphy felt this was a decision which almost came back to bite Arsenal, criticising the selection of the goalkeeper for 5 Live, as reported by the BBC’s live coverage.

“I’m surprised Wojciech Szczesny is back in. He looks a bag of nerves. His kicking hasn’t been great and there was one incident when he put his team in a world of trouble.”

Szczesny certainly looked shaky early on, and was left flailing at Wayne Rooney’s header, not helped by poor marking from Laurent Koscielny.

The goalkeeper is usually renowned for his cocky nature and confidence, so to see him struggling with his decision making early on perhaps spoke to his lack of match practice. Just 51 per cent of his kicks forward or passes found a teammate.

He is possibly still also bearing in mind his game costing performance away to Southampton which led to him being dropped by Arsene Wenger, but the professional manner in which he was able to close the game out will have been a boost.

Wenger showed last year he would stick with his cup goalkeeper, with Szczesny missing out on starring in the FA Cup win in favour of Lukasz Fabianski.

The gloves are on the other hand now, and lifting an FA Cup medal at Wembley and playing a major part in it is a way for him to show Arsene Wenger he can be trusted to play in the league again and reclaim the number one spot.