Published: 2 August, 2012
by STEVE BARNETT

SHOT-STOPPER Wojciech Szczesny believes that he has already seen enough in pre-season to safely say that a return to glory is well within Arsenal’s reach.

With an extra year’s experience under his belt, the Gunners’ No.1 is confident that the arrivals of Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud, plus the influence of coach Steve Bould, will take the Gunners to another level.

“This club always has the same aim – and that’s winning trophies,” said Szczesny. “We obviously haven’t done it in the last few years and that’s disappointing for the players and the fans but I believe we will be that little bit stronger than we were last year.

“We have a couple of quality signings already. And we’re confident we can fight for the trophies more than we did last year.

“I think the players who were lacking experience last year now have that experience. We have a couple of signings, more players who can score goals.

“We’re strong offensively and assistant manager Steve Bould has been doing some fantastic work with the defence. That seems to be working very well. It all makes me believe we’ll be stronger.”

Szczesny worked with Bould while he learned his trade in the Arsenal academy and he remains a big admirer of the defender who won three league titles during his playing career.

“We’ve done a lot of defensive shape work in training, work on when we lose the ball and a lot of defending on crosses,” said Szczesny.  

“Steve likes to shout at players and keep them on their toes – so it’s looking positive.”