Taylor cast into the fray

Some fortunate young men receive a car for their 21st birthday; others have to settle for a CD system. Stuart Taylor, who is due to receive the key of the door next Wednesday, hopes that his early present will be a Premiership debut in goal for Arsenal against Manchester United on Sunday.

Whatever the 6ft 4in Essex boy may have put on his wish-list, he was expecting nothing more exciting than a Worthington Cup match against Grimsby Town on the eve of the big day. Instead, he has already received a hurried invitation to don his best No 13 jersey and replace Richard Wright for the second half of Wednesday's 2-0 Champions' League defeat in Spain to Deportivo La Coruña. Unless Wright makes an unexpectedly quick recovery from the knee injury that forced him out at the interval, Taylor will stand between the posts against David Beckham and the rest the day after tomorrow.

He has already faced Beckham, when invited to train with the England squad during Euro 2000, and found it a daunting experience: "I spent quite a bit of time trying to save his free-kicks and there were some that flew past me. You think to yourself: 'Oh, blimey'. We know they're a good side but we've got a great team and and I know we can compete with them."

Coincidentally, Taylor should already have one appearance against United under his belt. He was expected to play in the Worthington Cup tie against them earlier this month, which neither club treated as a first-team match, but Wright, having performed so poorly against Charlton in the Premiership the previous day, was given another game to restore his confidence. Although it seemed to work – he kept a clean sheet and Arsenal won 4-0 – the £6m man subsequently committed another howler last Saturday, allowing Tottenham an equaliser in the last minute, which hardly endeared him to his new club's supporters.

Withdrawn from a training session on the eve of the game in La Coruña, because of knee trouble, Wright convinced himself and the medical staff that he was fit, but conceded two goals in the opening 25 minutes, the second of them because he was slow going down to Diego Tristan's daisy-cutter at his near post. After admitting the goalkeeper should not have played, Arsenal's manager, Arsène Wenger, declined to apportion blame. "I don't feel anybody made a wrong decision, but the injury was maybe deeper than anybody thought," he said.

Arsenal's goalkeeping coach, Bob Wilson, found himself in an embarrassing position as the presenter of ITV's highlights programme on Wednesday and declined to pass judgement on Wright. With David Seaman well short of fitness, the club now have only Taylor and the even less experienced Graham Stack to call on. Taylor's last League match was on loan for Peterborough United last spring, when he conceded five goals against Port Vale. Previously loaned out to Crystal Palace and Bristol Rovers, he is a graduate of the former National School at Lilleshall, who has played three times this season for England's Under-21 team.

Promising as he may be, this is hardly the ideal time to be blooding him at such an exalted level. United and then Juventus are due at Highbury on either side of Grimsby's visit, as the gloom of another Black November enshrouds Arsenal. In the same month last year, they won one match out of seven, scoring only three goals. After another feeble performance in Europe on Wednesday, the record this year is one win – against United's third team – from four games.