With Manuel Almunia and Lukasz Fabiansky out injured, Arsene Wenger has to rely on their third choice goalkeepers Vito Mannone. But his performance at the Craven Cottage turned out to be first rated.

Throughout the match, he made a total of 8 saves, with some vital saves such as one-handed save at point-blank from Andrew Johnsen’s header and then follow up another save with his face bravely against Clint Dempsey shots. He was then voted as Man of the Match by keeping a cleansheets against a better side of the day.

So far he only managed to start 4 time for Arsenal, with the last match of last season against Stoke, and the recently 3 match whereby the top 2 keeper choice is being out injured, but all 4 matches manage to end with Arsenal winning.

With the latest 2 matches against Wigan and Fulham, he managed to make quite a number of impressive saves and maintain cleansheets. So a £350k compensation fee, where Wenger paid for him in 2005 summer really seem like a steal. At the age of 21, what he need is to be on the field earning precious experience than sitting on the bench. Can he be the next Buffon for the Italian squad in the future?

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