Head-2-Head: Szczezny and Hart resume battle between the sticks

Ahead of Sunday's Serie A contest between Roma and Torino, we take a closer look at the teams' first-choice goalkeepers - Wojciech Szczesny and Joe Hart.

The pair were Premier League rivals for several years before both making the move to Italy and are now set for their second meeting in Serie A, after September's match in Turin.

SZCZESNY'S START...

Szczesny is the son of former Poland goalkeeper Maciej, the only player to have won the Polish league title with four different teams (Legia Warsaw, Widzew Lodz, Polonia Warsaw and Wisla Krakow). The genes were clearly handed down in this family as both Wojciech and his brother Jan followed in their father's footsteps by opting for a career between the sticks.

Born in Warsaw on 18 April 1990, Wojciech came through the youth ranks at Legia. The club's goalkeeping coach was so impressed by the boy's precocious ability that he started training with the first team at the age of 15.

Arsenal snapped him up as a 16-year-old in 2006-07 and he was promoted to the Gunners' reserve team in 2008.

GUNNING FOR GLORY...

In the meantime Szczesny had collected a number of caps for Poland's U20 and U21 sides but he was forced to spend five months on the sidelines after fracturing both forearms. After recovering, he made his Arsenal debut in the League Cup in 2009.

At the time Arsene Wenger said of the young shotstopper: “He's got a great future ahead of him. I think he'll go on to become our No.1.”

Following a loan spell at Brentford he returned to the Gunners and moved ahead of Lukasz Fabianski and Manuel Almunia in the pecking order to become Wenger's first-choice keeper in 2010-11.

He played for five seasons in the Premier League, winning two FA Cups and two Community Shields.

In 2013-14 he was named joint winner of the Premier League Golden Glove award after keeping 16 clean sheets.

Szczesny currently has 27 senior caps for Poland and has conceded 19 goals.

The signing of Petr Cech in the summer of 2015 forced Wojciech to look elsewhere and that's when he joined Roma. In his first season at the club he conceded 34 goals in 34 games with Morgan De Sanctis as back-up.

HART FINDS HIS WAY...

Joe Hart came through as an academy product of his local club Shrewsbury Town, before moving to Manchester City in 2006.

He began the season as third choice behind Andreas Isaksson and Nicky Weaver but was handed a shock debut in October against Sheffield United when the other two were both injured. He would still however have to earn his stripes, with consecutive loan spells at Tranmere Rovers and Blackpool coming before he could establish himself as the City's No. 1.

In 2007-08, Sven-Goran Eriksson made Hart his first choice, claiming, “Hart is one of the best talents in the English game.”

His first England call-up seem to suggest it would be all plain sailing but he still needed a year away from Manchester City, joining Birmingham on loan after Shay Given was preferred between the sticks. At the end of the season, new manager Roberto Mancini recalled the Englishman to the Etihad.

SUCCESS WITH THE CITIZENS

He hit the ground running on his return to Manchester, making a string of fine saves on the opening weekend of the season in a goalless draw against Tottenham. That was the first of 18 clean sheets that season as he claimed the Premier League’s Golden Glove award.

He claimed plenty of trophies at City, alongside team-mate Edin Dzeko, lifting the Premier League twice, along with the FA Cup, Community Shield and two League Cups.

His time in the national team has been up and down, however. He was selected for the 2010 World Cup squad but failed to feature, before becoming first choice at Euro 2012 as the Three Lions lost to Italy on penalties. England finished bottom in the group of death at Brazil 2014, with Italy also bowing out.

But the real disappointment was last summer’s European championships in France. After some fairly average displays, Hart had a nightmare against Iceland in the last-16 and Roy Hodgson’s men were sent packing. Made a scapegoat by the English media, he was one of the main players in the firing line following England’s shock exit.

Upon his return to his club side, Josep Guardiola told him he didn’t feature in his plans - looking for a goalkeeper better with the ball at his feet - and Hart was forced to move onto Torino, becoming the first English goalkeeper in Serie A history in the tournament’s current format.

HOW THE TWO MEN COMPARE

Wojciech Szczesny has conceded 21 goals in 24 appearances this term. His 11 clean sheets are the most in Serie A, one ahead of his compatriot Lukasz Skorupski.

Joe Hart’s form has been more mixed, however (32 conceded in 22 games). Like the Giallorossi 'keeper, he too has had a few issues with Italian during his first season in Serie A.

Both players are on loan and still belong to their respective parent clubs, Arsenal for Szczesny and Manchester City for Hart.

A decision will be made on both come the end of the season but for now they’re just focused on keeping the ball out.