Didier Deschamps has always maintained his confidence in Alphonse Areola as the 3rd goalkeeper for the France team. The player trained at PSG, number 2 last season with West Ham, is making an exceptional start to the season with the Hammers.
Didier Deschamps will not reserve any surprises, Thursday (2 p.m.), when quoting his three goalkeepers for the next gathering of the France team. On the program: a 5th meeting of the Euro 2024 qualifiers against Ireland (September 7 at the Parc des Princes) then a friendly match against Germany (12 in Dortmund). Mike Maignan, Brice Samba and Alphonse Areola will be there, barring disaster by then.
Areola was again relegated to 3rd place in the hierarchy of Blues goalkeepers during the June rally (in favor of the new Samba), but he has his place in the group. He is obviously the 2018 world champion, accompanying Hugo Lloris and Steve Mandanda, but he is above all a starter, finally, at West Ham.
2nd best goalkeeper in PL
A big change for Areola, at 30, who will certainly make “La Dèche” happy, who has always trusted the player trained at PSG, even when he was number 2 with the Hammers (he only played matches for cut last season). Areola was still EDF’s third goalkeeper at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar (Maignan being forfeited).
Promoted during the summer, at the expense of Lukasz Fabianski, the Parisian of Filipino origin comes out of two exceptional matches for as many victory for West Ham, against Chelsea (3-1) and Brighton (1-3). He repelled a penalty from Enzo Fernandez against the Blues, 1-1, and disgusted the Seagulls, making 9 parades. He is the best goalkeeper in the Premier League at the start of the season behind Guglielmo Vicario (Tottenham) in terms of save percentage. A great reward for this quality goalkeeper.
Alisson Becker has the 3rd highest save percentage (83.3%) in the Premier League this season 🧤
Only Guglielmo Vicario (86.7%) and Alphonse Areola (84.2%) have more.
Absolute brick wall 🚫#LFC pic.twitter.com/VDrFufYySS
—LFC Analysis (@LFCAnalysis_) August 28, 2023
