Ahead of Cup, Arsenal’s Szczesny slams father

Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny has become embroiled in a war of words with his own father over controversial comments his parent made about Gunners boss Arsene Wenger and his team-mates.

Szczesny is likely to start for Arsenal in the FA Cup final against Aston Villa at Wembley on Saturday despite losing his position as the club’s first-choice goalkeeper to David Ospina.

But Wenger has only played the Poland international in cup competitions after catching him smoking in the showers following Arsenal’s 2-0 defeat at Southampton on New Year’s Day.

Szczesny’s father Maciej, him- self a former Poland goalkeeper, accused Wenger of being disloyal towards his son earlier this year and claimed the smoking story was “exaggerated” by the media.

He also said Arsenal’s defence was to blame for a number of goals they have conceded this season and singled out Per Mertesacker as a guilty party.

Those quotes infuriated Szczesny and he published a response on his Facebook page on Friday.

“Really shouldn’t be dealing with this one day before the cup final but my father leaves me no choice,” he wrote. “I have not spoken to him in more than 2 years and just like everybody else I have had enough of his idiotic comments about the football club and the manager I owe so much to!”