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According to multiple reports, including the Telegraph’s Matt Law and the Guardian’s David Hytner, Arsene Wenger has decided to drop Petr Čech for Saturday’s FA Cup final against Chelsea, and go with backup goalkeeper David Ospina instead.
While Ospina had played the early rounds of the FA Cup as well as all of Arsenal’s games in the Champions League, the assumption was that Wenger would start his no.1 goalkeeper with an actual trophy on the line. Ospina had not played in either of Arsenal’s victories in the FA Cup quarterfinals or semifinals.
Earlier reports said Čech was carrying an injury, but this seems to not be the case anymore. To make matters worse, Čech is understood to be “devastated” by this decision, especially since Ospina is expected to leave the club this summer and Čech (probably?) isn’t.
But no worries, Petr, there might be a silver lining here. While Chelsea can’t quite offer your first-team minutes anymore, I’m sure we’d be more than happy to welcome you back as a back-up for next season.