West Ham striker Michail Antonio claims the club’s goalkeeping situation is not dissimilar to what’s happening at Arsenal.

Alphonse Areola has taken over as No.1 in the Premier League this season, with Lukasz Fabianski having now been given the gloves for European and cup competitions. Antonio says the decision has had far less attention than the battle between David Raya and Aaron Ramsdale:

“It’s not been in the spotlight, but at West Ham right now we’ve got Alphonse Areola in goal. For the past four or five years, Lukasz Fabianski has been unbelievable. He has pulled us out of some unbelievable situations and he has been unreal.”

“But at the beginning of this season, the gaffer made Alphonse number one this year. It’s because he’s not at Arsenal why it’s not been talked about so much.”

“Literally Lucasz has been unbelievable and he could easily have been our number one this year. We know if anything ever happens to Alphonse that we’ve got Lucasz and we aren’t worried.”

West Ham have two no.1 goalkeepers

One of the key differences between the two situations is that Raya has essentially supplanted Ramsdale for the most important games, making him Arsenal’s de facto No.1.

At West Ham, the two keepers have simply swapped roles. While some may argue that Areola is now the No.1 as he is playing league games, you wouldn’t get many Irons fans saying that Europa League fixtures are less important. For that reason, you can reasonably argue that Fabianski is still valued as highly by manager David Moyes.

Fabianski’s contract situation

The 38-year-old signed a new one-year deal back in May but he is set to leave West Ham when his current contract expires at the end of the season.

As Fabianski is no longer playing the majority of games, you do wonder whether he will be content to play second fiddle at this stage of his career. He could potentially decide to move on to pasture’s new next summer.

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