Vito Mannone says he is now prepared to be Arsenal's number one gloveman and has thanked his loan spell at Hull City for getting him ready.
The 24-year old Italian goalkeeper has made three appearances so far this season in the absence of injured number one Wojciech Szczesny and has impressed in each of his outings, conceding just one goal - a penalty in last night's 2-1 Champions League win over Montpellier.
Mannone spent time in the Championship with Hull last season and he feels that experience has got him in a good position to take the mantle from his Polish teammate.
"Every goalkeeper has his own path, and I had mine. I had bad times and I just rolled up my sleeves and worked hard. Then, I thought: 'Let's go to Hull'," he said.
"Nobody wants to go there really, but I found a good club, good fans and I gained experience.
"I played games as a number one - 24 games in a row - so that's what I needed.
"It helped me going onto the pitch thinking: 'Okay, I can be number one now'.
"The keeper is one of the most important positions because you can make a save and bring the three points home or you can do a mistake and everything is your fault. I am ready for it.
"Before the Southampton game (last weekend) the boss talked to me, and for the first time I felt he understood I was ready to be number one.
"I hope, after this result, something has changed."
