Arsenal goalkeeper Vito Mannone has hailed his showing against Fulham as his best ever game.
The young Italian was instrumental in the Gunners’ 1-0 win at Craven Cottage success on Saturday, making a string of fine saves to thwart Fulham.
Mannone was only playing because of injuries to Manuel Almunia and Lukasz Fabianski and he took his chance to impress with a superb display.
The 21-year-old believes he has shown what he can do and that he can be trusted to come into the side if Arsenal are without their two other ‘keepers.
“That’s the best game I have ever played. When I have played in the past it wasn’t so important,” said Mannone.
“In the first team you have to show what you can do and I think I did that. My favourite was the double save in the first half when I went to my right. It gave me a lot of confidence.
“It hit me in the face so it has made me a little bit uglier but I want to improve my confidence.
“It’s better to have lots of saves to do than to have nothing to do for 80 minutes and then make one save. That’s more difficult than making saves in a row.
“I always try to stay relaxed. The boss told me to stay relaxed, use my technique and play as in training. It was a good performance by the team. We showed a lot of character in this game.
“When you come away you have to show you can play physically, you can play on the floor and we got our chance and scored.”
