West Ham sign Arsenal keeper

West Ham boss Sam Allardyce made a move for Almunia after Robert Green was ruled out for six weeks with a knee cartilage problem.

“We’ve been hot on the phone and secured an excellent signing in the short-term in Manuel Almunia from Arsenal,” Allardyce told the club’s official website.

“It’s a big ‘Thank you’ again to Arsene Wenger and Arsenal for allowing us to get such a high-class and experienced goalkeeper to come in and fill in for Robert for the time being.

“I think he hasn’t had as many games at Arsenal as he would have liked so he wants to play first-team football at the end of the day.

“We hope that huge amount of experience he has had at Arsenal and the football he has played on a regular basis will stand us in good stead here at West Ham and more and more clean sheets will come from his presence in goal. That will obviously help us to secure more victories while Robert is out.”