Frank McAvennie: Lukasz Fabianski faces big fight for his West Ham starting spot
We’re delighted to welcome former West Ham United striker Frank McAvennie as our exclusive columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at the London Stadium…
Frank McAvennie believes Lukasz Fabianski has a big battle ahead to keep his West Ham starting spot after the signing of Alphonse Areola last week.
The Irons brought Areola in on a season-long loan deal from PSG with the option of making it permanent at the end of the campaign [West Ham official club website].
The 28-year-old French international was Fulham’s Player of the Season during their unsuccessful fight against the Premier League drop in the previous campaign, and looks sure to rival Fabianski for the number one jersey at the London Stadium.
Speaking exclusively to West Ham Zone, ex-Irons attacker McAvennie believes Fabianski must improve to keep his spot in the starting XI, or the 36-year-old Pole must prepare for life on the bench.
“He’ll [Areola] be coming in hungry and thinking ‘I want the number one spot’,” McAvennie said.
“It’s good to have that rivalry and people fighting for a place.
“I’ve got nothing but admiration for someone coming in there because he knows that the number one spot is not his at the moment, but he’ll be coming in to fight for a place, he won’t be coming to sit on the bench.
“Fabianski has got to up his game if he wants to keep his starting spot, which is great for West Ham.”
It is widely expected that Fabianski will start the Premier League campaign in goal for the Irons, but it may well be that Areola is handed Europa League duties for the time being.
David Moyes is likely to make a proper decision after a few weeks and months of the season, and that feels like the right decision.
Fabianski has proven to be a reliable performer for a number of years now, so he deserves to be trusted.
But there have been brief signs that he is starting to let down his standards on occasions, and hopefully, the signing of Areola will force him to up his levels once again.
In other West Ham news, ExWHUemployee has dropped a significant Declan Rice update amid a Monday ‘Meltdown’.
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