Wojciech Szczesny is dreaming of playing his part in a silver-lined finish to Arsenal's season, even though it might mean heartbreak for his close friend, Lukasz Fabianski.

The manager, Arsène Wenger, faces a difficult decision over his starting goalkeeper for the FA Cup final against Hull City on 17 May, having selected Fabianski, who is Szczesny's back-up, in every domestic cup tie of the season so far.

Fabianski was the hero of Arsenal's penalty shootout victory over Wigan Athletic in Saturday's FA Cup semi-final at Wembley, saving two kicks and, afterwards, he said that he would "definitely be disappointed" if he were overlooked for the final. He was also in goal when Arsenal won on penalties at West Bromwich Albion in the third round of the Capital One Cup last September.

Fabianski is out of contract in the summer and the FA Cup final stands to be his farewell appearance for the club that he joined from Legia Warsaw in 2007. He has remained tight-lipped about his future plans; several clubs in Germany's Bundesliga are interested in him.

Szczesny's previous appearance for Arsenal at Wembley ended in disaster when he was involved in the last-minute mix-up with Laurent Koscielny that gifted the winning goal to Birmingham City in the 2011 Capital One Cup final. But the desire to make amends is overridden by the imperative for his club to win their first trophy since 2005.

"I would love to play but it's the manager's decision," Szczesny said. "It's up to the him. I think Lukasz has done really well and he deserves a lot of credit. I'm an Arsenal fan and I just want us to get the trophy. For us, it's important to get a trophy and hopefully we can appease everyone at the club."

Szczesny's more immediate focus is on the battle to finish in the Premier League's top four and so extend Arsenal's membership of the Champions League elite for a 17th consecutive season. The team ended a damaging sequence of four league matches without a win with the 3-1 home victory over West Ham United on Tuesday night and they are now preparing for Sunday's visit to Hull.

"It wasn't every enjoyable, I don't want to say too much," Szczesny said of the unravelling of Arsenal's title challenge. "Before the disappointing four results we've had, we were in the title race, so it has slipped away from us. But it's important for us to fight for our new challenge, which is the top four and the FA Cup. I don't think qualifying for the Champions League is slipping away from us. We are confident we can still do the job.

"The most pleasing thing against West Ham was the three points but yes, we showed we can respond. In the league, we hadn't won in four games so we needed to get back to winning games. I would take three points like that, it doesn't have to be beautiful. Every game is a cup final for us now and we have to get a result every single time we play."

Wenger named his oldest lineup, in terms of average age, against West Ham since May 2003 against Leeds United and Szczesny believes that the squad's experience could be vital in the weeks ahead, including their knowledge of how to stay the course in the race for the top four.

"I think so," Szczesny said. "Kim [Kallstrom] played against West Ham, he is very experienced and he played well, especially in the second half when we were under a little bit of pressure towards the end. The experience of having a good run-in during the past couple of season will help us to get through again."