Wenger delighted with Almunia show
Manuel Almunia last night emerged a hero, much to the satisfaction of Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger.
Wenger has been plagued by goalkeeping problems throughout a difficult season, but Almunia kept his nerve to steer the Gunners into the sixth round of the FA Cup.
The Spaniard made two crucial penalty saves in a spot-kick shoot-out showdown with Sheffield United at Bramall Lane after the two sides fought out a goalless 120 minutes of their fifth-round replay.
It was a patched-up Arsenal side as Wenger was without nine key players, including the likes of Thierry Henry, Sol Campbell and Robert Pires.
But Wenger was left beaming as he said following the game: “Sheffield can be proud of their performance, as can we because we had a young generation, inexperienced team out there.
“But we showed the quality and character that is needed at the top level and what is good tonight is that Manuel has also shown what a quality keeper he is.
“In his first spell (in the team) he played completely under pressure and was never really himself, but tonight he has displayed the quality we know he has and from what we have seen in training. I hear every day we must buy a goalkeeper, so if I am now being told we have two again then I don’t need to bother.”
Almunia has effectively salvaged Arsenal’s season, with a last-eight date now looming at Bolton later this month.
Arsenal’s Champions League hopes were seemingly dashed with last week’s 3-1 defeat at Bayern Munich, while they trail Chelsea by some distance in the Premiership title race.
But Wenger added: “We are still in the Champions League and we will continue to do as well as we can in the Premiership, but that is looking unlikely for us.
“I just hope this is a small turning point in our season because after being frustrated at Southampton on Saturday and in Munich last week, we could have been frustrated again tonight.
“But we have come through a very tough test and we can look forward again.”
United manager Neil Warnock was understandably deflated after seeing his side beaten 4-2 in the penalty shoot-out. As he said: “It’s a hard way to lose, but there is no other way.
“But for 120 minutes we played against one of the best sides, even though they might be without a few big players, and we held our own.
“They will not have a harder game all season. They have scrapped, and when you see players like Patrick Vieira and Ashley Cole scrapping away, it’s great to watch.
“Nobody knew until the penalties who was going to win, and I am never confident with penalties. Premiership players have so much technique, and it showed, while we had a job just to find five volunteers.”
