Fabianski pleased to show worth

admin

Substitute Bafetimbi Gomis’ second-half header proved enough to clinch all three points for Garry Monk’s men as they propeeled themselves into the race for Europa League qualification but it was Fabianski’s man of the match display which made the result possible.

The former Arsenal keeper was in fine form on his return to the Emirates as he made some excellent saves to keep out chances from Santi Cazorla, Alexis Sanchez and Theo Walcott.

And when questioned about his many great saves, Fabianski told Sky Sports: “It looked a bit like that (getting in the way of everything). That’s something that you expect from your goalkeeper and I tried to help the team and luckily enough I managed to do it.

“It’s always nice to show yourself at the Emirates against your former team, you always try to – this is only my first game coming back – but you try to be positive in the game and stay focused to help the team.

“That’s what I’ve done today so I’m quite happy.”

The Gunners could have taken the lead had Sanchez not fired into the side-netting eight minutes after the break, while Cazorla was unfortunate midway through the second half as he forced a full-stretch diving save out of Fabianski with a powerful effort.

Arsenal began to press with more urgency midway through the second half with Sanchez and Walcott both coming close after 78 minutes, drawing a couple of excellent saves out of Fabianski, who revealed he was emotional before the match..

“I was a little bit emotional before the game, but then when you step onto the pitch you just focus on the game,” he added.

“(I’m) just happy with the result. I think the whole team put on a massive effort to get a result and you could see they (Arsenal) were more on the ball but we always looked very dangerous on the break and we’re happy enough we managed to get one.”