I am hoping that he can put in a good performance and ease some of the huge pressure building up from the summer. This was always going to happen, as soon as a new goalkeeper did not find his way into the club we were always going to find ourselves in this position

I was planning to move away from the goalkeeping debate this evening and look forward to something else but after finding out that Manuel Almunia has picked up an injury, I don’t think I can quite get away with that this evening. It was either after Almunia fouled Odemwingie or after his penalty save, we saw Almunia holding the side of his arm. It may explain why Almunia did not slide out to meet Brunt in the box when Brunt set up Thomas for the West Brom third.

So to Lukasz Fabianski, everyone’s favourite goalkeeper. He will almost certainly pick up the gloves for our upcoming clash away to Partizan Belgrade.

It is a very difficult time for him to be coming into the side with all eyes being angrily looked at the direction of the goalkeepers, in some ways it may actually benefit him that we are playing away from home and not in front of the home support, this may just take a bit of the pressure away from his shoulders.

I am hoping that he can put in a good performance and ease some of the huge pressure building up from the summer. This was always going to happen, as soon as a new goalkeeper did not find his way into the club we were always going to find ourselves in this position as soon as an error was made. I can understand the frustration as we all want as close to perfection as possible.

I was one of those who thought that a new goalkeeper would have been a good move in the summer but that was just not to be for whatever reason. Clearly we tried to bring in someone and after watching some Fulham highlights thus far, I can now agree with the camp that suggested that he was not better than what we already had.

I was pretty much a lone voice in the comments yesterday when I suggested that Almunia had been one of our better performers so far this season, I stand by that. His mistake for the West Brom second goal was bad, very bad but my point was let us not get all suicidal after one game.

At the moment we have what we have, we all want better, all the time in every position but at present we cannot do anything about that. If Almunia could play as he did against Blackburn every week then we wouldn’t be having this debate so all we can do is hope that he can get that consistency, that consistency that he hasn’t been able to have in his game for a little while now.

Young prospect Wojciech Szczesny is also included in the squad which is quite interesting, especially given the fact that Vito Mannone was above him in the pecking order last season. I don’t know if Mannone is injured or not, to be honest I am being too lazy to find out.

Anyway, moving on. Arsene Wenger has said that his side will regroup for the game tomorrow. I hope they all had a good old fashioned dressing down and told to look long and hard into the mirror at themselves. Only really Samir Nasri came out of the game with any real credit and that is not right.

Most title winning sides go through these kind of results and it is how you bounce back from results and performances like we witnessed on the weekend.

Like many will, I remember an Arsenal team being beaten 3-1 at home to Blackburn Rovers, a truly awful display which called for a team meeting. That group of players addressed the issues, corrected them and went on to steam towards the title in 1997/1998.

Admittedly that squad had plenty of leaders and experience which would have made a big difference but it is time to put aside the lack of experience in this squad, they have all played enough football in their collective careers to know what it takes to win games at home against weaker opposition.

Like I have said, we have the most talented squad in the league, that I am almost certain of, it is now down to the mental strengths of the players in true Arsene style. If we have another season where the players pick and choose which games they perform in then we can wave away any chance of silverware, apart from the West Brom game we have shown great desire and attitude so let us hope that the West Brom walkabout was just a one off and not a regular theme, because if we give our all in every game then I am convinced that we can have a successful title challenge.

I have to admit that I am concerned as to what a defeat in the game tomorrow could do to the players, especially with Chelsea at the Bridge the next fixture. A win and good performance is vital to our season just for the momentum and confidence of the players.

Almost as interesting as the goalkeeper swap. is the exclusion of Abou Diaby from the squad for tomorrow’s game. I wonder if that is for fitness reasons or due to his performance at the weekend. Wenger is not usually one for not giving player a second chance so it could well mean that Diaby isn’t fit enough to take part, he didn’t look 100% against West Brom.

Henri Lansbury has been promoted to the first team after his all action display against Tottenham in the CC. Perhaps that is a warning to other squad members, hard work and determination gets noticed.

Ok, before I disappear for another day I just want to say that I know there is an issue with the paragraphing in the comments, this is a coding issue that needs to be resolved with the erm coder. We are waiting for a response.

Back again with a match preview.