Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has singled out goalkeeper Bernd Leno for praise in his battle with regular first-team ‘keeper Aaron Ramsdale this season. The 30-year-old has struggled for minutes this season, dropping down the pecking order.
Ramsdale, 23, joined last summer from Sheffield United for roughly £25million and made the jump back into Premier League football smoothly. His fine form has kept the Gunners in many games this season and even earned him an international call-up for England.
However, this has meant that Leno, once a regular on the team sheet, has had to deputise and often start on the bench. With his contract running until 2023, there is plenty of speculation over his future.
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In his most immediate future though is a potential start against Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Monday night, with fellow glovesman Ramsdale still battling back from a hip injury he suffered against Liverpool. It was a knock that saw the German start in the last league fixture, a 1-0 win over Aston Villa.
Ahead of a potential back-to-back start, Arteta has been quick to laud Leno for his professionalism in deputising this season. He said: “What you want to have is in every position players that are reliable and can perform, whether they've been playing recently or not.
“In the goalkeeping position it's no different, that is why we bought Aaron, to get the standards higher, to bring different qualities, different ways of understanding and acting during matches, and different experiences. With Bernd we have the capacity to play him [on Monday] and we know what we're going to get.”
With Arsenal in need of all three points to aid their push for a top four finish, the goalkeeper could have a huge say on how the match with the Eagles finishes. He and the Gunners will be hoping that it’s with a clean sheet at the end of the night.
