Timely Theo, but ’keeper Szczesny catches the eye

QPR 0 Arsenal 1

The 23-year-old Pole was dropped for five weeks after a poor run of form culminated in a north London derby day defeat at Tottenham at the beginning of March.

He only got his place back because fellow countryman Lukas Fabianksi cracked a rib, but this win at Loftus Road marked his second clean sheet in his three games since returning and his world class save near the death was the difference between Arsenal winning and dropping out of the race for Champions League football.

Wenger has often been urged to sign a world-class keeper, but now he is hoping his mind games with Szczesny will result in the emergence of a talent who can keep Arsenal secure at the back for a decade or so ahead.

Theo Walcott was the man in the spotlight for scoring the fastest goal of the season after only 20 seconds, but Szczesny was the man many of his team-mates turned to at the end following a faultless display punctuated by his stunning 83rd minute stop from a seemingly goal-bound Loic Remy shot.

Fabianski will be fit when Arsenal play again, at home to Wigan just three days after their visitors will have played the FA Cup Final against Manchester City, but Wenger appears ready to reinstate Szczesny as his No. 1 for the two-game run with a final day trip to Newcastle to follow.

Wenger agreed Szczesny is the sort of player that badly needed pressure on his place, inferring that the Pole had started to believe his own hype: “Yes. You know him as well. I must give him credit because in this competition he has responded very well. When he came back he was sharper than when I left him out.

“I expected that reaction, of course. That’s what you have seen with people like [David] Seaman and [Jens] Lehmann; when I took them out, they came back stronger. He has done that as well, he’s in a good frame now.

“We can get 73 points, so let’s win the next one and see if the results go for us. We have a good chance if we get 73 points to be there.”

Meanwhile, Wenger’s QPR counterpart Harry Redknapp is dreaming he can rebuild a side to win in excess of 70 points in the Championship next season. The backbone of a good team is already at the club, but the former Tottenham manager knows he will have to make changes.

Redknapp’s men look like going down as the bottom club now and he said afterwards he is happy to take a pay cut as he is wealthy enough to accommodate the drop in earnings following relegation, but could not speak for his players.

One moving on will certainly be Brazil goalkeeper Julio Cesar, who was left out of this match in favour of Robert Green.

Redknapp claimed Cesar is likely to land a top club in Italy or Spain this summer, while he is also resigned to losing the impressive Andros Townsend, who terrorised Arsenal from the right wing and had Nacho Monreal chasing shadows.

Perhaps the on-loan Tottenham man felt duty bound to give a little extra to help his parent club and his mates watching in north London could not have asked for more.

Arsenal seem to have the winning habit, though, and will be expected to beat Wigan at home before travelling to Newcastle.

Tottenham and Chelsea can both still finish above Wenger and co., but before then they play each other at Stamford Bridge this Wednesday, with a potential winner takes all outcome up for grabs.