SEAMAN OR MANNINGER?

However, another of their long-serving players may have seen a mood change at Highbury that night, which will perhaps signal the end of another illustrious career at Arsenal.

Some fine saves by Alex Manninger generated a chorus of "Arsenal`s number one", much to the interest of David Seaman watching from the Clock End executive boxes.

A series of disappointing results, particularly in Europe have led to questions over the position of Seaman as Arsenal`s first-choice `keeper, particularly as the Gunners lost the only two matches the genial Yorkshireman played in the Champions League.

An injury to Seaman at the start of the season let the young Austrian in and Manninger carried out his duties with some assurance. However, an error which led to Barcelona`s goal in the Nou Camp, cost him his place to the fit again veteran.

However, a look at the two `keeper`s stats shows that Manninger has outperformed Seaman and that the apprentice is perhaps ready to take over from the master.

The England `keeper has lower saves-to-shots ratios in both the Premiership and the Champions League. He actually has the worst ratio of all the Premiership`s number ones and only made three saves from eight shots faced at Wembley in Arsenal`s disastrous home defeats by Barcelona and Fiorentina that proved so costly.

Manninger on the other hand was not on the losing side in his four Champions league outings and has conceded an identical number of goals in the Premiership, despite having played almost twice as often as Seaman.

Time will eventually catch up with all of Arsenal`s veteran defenders and the problem for Arsene Wenger has been to find suitable replacements. The fact that Alex Manninger has proved worthy of donning the Arsenal goalkeeping jersey in the past, may mean that Seaman is the first casualty of M. Wenger`s defensive rebuilding revolution.