Martin Keown has backed Petr Cech to retain his position as Arsenal’s first-choice goalkeeper ahead of summer signing Bernd Leno.
German shot-stopper Leno joined the Gunners from Bayer Leverkusen in June but has been forced to act as Cech’s deputy so far this season.
The 26-year-old, who cost around £22million, was handed his first start in Thursday’s Europa League clash against Vorskla Poltava but Keown says he ‘did nothing’ to threaten Cech.
Arsenal stormed into a 4-0 lead over the Ukrainian side before conceding two late goals, although Leno was not to blame for either. ‘I’m not sure anyone has done that tonight [shown they deserve to be in the first team],’ Keown said on BT Sport.
‘Certainly not the goalkeeper [Leno]. You can’t point blame at him for the goals, but if he pulled off a worldie save he might stay in the team.
‘If he saved one of those goals you’d have to say he was quite brilliant. [If he] did nothing for the whole night but he pulled off two amazing saves, but he didn’t do that.’