Ahead of this afternoon’s game against West Ham United, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was full of praise for goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski, who he described as a “natural goalkeeper”.

Speaking on Friday, the Frenchman explained how the problem with the 25-year old last season was that he was only used sporadically and how this always prevented him from building the right confidence to shine in goal.

Having taken full advantage of Manuel Almunia’s elbow injury, the Polish International is finally showing how good he is with Wenger revealing his surprise at the leadership skills of his goalkeeper.

The Frenchman added how last season’s mistakes – especially those made against Porto in the Champions League – affected Fabianski’s confidence as he concluded by saying how newcomers are always under pressure as their mistakes always see the media and fans say that they are not good enough.

On Friday, Wenger said:

He always felt that if he could get a run of games, then he could show how good he is.

He always felt it [his reputation] was only on one game and he felt under pressure to show how good he is in one game. Now he is a bit more relaxed.

He’s louder than you think he is too. In the game, I am quite surprised how much he talks. He is what I call a natural goalkeeper, the rhythm of the game runs through his body. He smells what will happen.

He is technically very gifted, after that every goalkeeper progresses and they blossom at 28 until 38.

Of course [the mistakes he made last season] affected him. The Porto game was very bad for him.

The confidence problem is a very interesting subject in top-level sport. You feel it goes quickly and comes back slowly. If you are an established name and you make a mistake, then people say ‘you have had a bad day’.

If you come into the team and you make a mistake people say you are not good enough. That’s a massive difference.