Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny says he is determined to put last season’s memories of St James’ Park behind him as the Gunners visit Newcastle on the opening day of the new campaign.
Szczesny was part of the team in a famous 4-4 draw, when Arsenal collapsed having led 4-0 at half time. The Polish goalkeeper feels the team lost the title that day, and wants to show it was just a one-off.
“There is a determination to win the game because I believe we lost the title at Newcastle last season,” he said.
“We want to turn up at Newcastle and show that it was a one-off accident and it will not happen again.”
The youngster added that the defence looks in good shape this year, and hopes the fans will not be too concerned by recent poor results in pre-season.
“I’m quite happy with the defensive side,” he added. “We didn’t concede in the first half [against Benfica] and I’m fairly happy with how we have done in pre-season.
“I wouldn’t pay too much attention to the results. The most important thing is fitness and showing the manager that you should be starting on August 13.”
Thomas Vermaelen echoed the words of his goalkeeper, as the two will look to be key members of a stronger Arsenal defence this season.
The Belgian said: “We have worked hard and I feel we are ready for it because the fitness is good in the team and we feel good.
“We have had a good pre-season over the past few weeks. In pre-season, the most important thing is training hard and getting your fitness back.
“We worked really hard in Germany, as hard as we did in Austria, so that was a tough week for us to get our fitness back. I think that week was really important and we were very pleased with that.”
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