David Seaman: I Would Start Leno Over Cech In The Europa League Final

By The Editor
on 24th May 2019

David Seaman hoping Leno gets the nod for the final…

Former Arsenal goalkeeper David Seaman believes that Bernd Leno should get the nod ahead of Petr Cech for the Europa League final, Sky Sports reports.

Cech has been our Europa League goalkeeper throughout the season and has performed admirably, with his most notable performance coming in Naples as a clean sheet saw us through our toughest test yet.

However, following recent reports that Cech will re-join Chelsea as a director of football, fans are worried about the 38-year-old starting the final against the club he’s about to join.

While Seaman doesn’t necessarily share those fears, he’s of the opinion that a team must start their best XI in a final – and that would mean fielding our No.1 Bernd Leno.

“I was surprised when I heard it,” Seaman said about Cech’s impending move back to Chelsea as a director.

“I was really surprised at the timing of it. I was thinking, ‘is that Chelsea that’s brought that out, or someone from Arsenal?’

“Nothing’s been confirmed yet, so if Petr plays I wouldn’t be worried at all. He’s a true professional and even if he is going to join Chelsea, that wouldn’t make any difference to his performance.”

Irrespective of the timing of these stories, Seaman would still prefer to see Leno between the sticks in Baku: “My only thing is that Arsenal really need this; they need this more than Chelsea.

“They need to get into the Champions League and I’m always for playing your strongest team. That means Leno, but I’m sure Cech will play because it’s his last ever game.”

Ruthlessness has been a quality lacking from the club during the Wenger reign and while the club sought a manager who had similar traits to the Frenchman, Emery must display a no-nonsense attitude when selecting his XI.

I’ve always been of the opinion that starting a player who’s already confirmed their departure is never the right move in a cup final, but we’ve seen it go in our favour before.

Lukasz Fabianski started the FA Cup final in 2014, which turned out to be his final game as he moved to Swansea City in search of first-team football.

The decision lies in Emery’s hands, good luck!