Cech proud of clean sheet record

Petr Cech expressed pride at setting a new clean sheet record in Arsenal’s 2-0 win over AFC Bournemouth on Monday before praising his team-mates for steering the side top of the Premier League. 

The 33-year-old, who made over 300 appearances for Chelsea prior to moving across London, surpassed David James’ previous milestone by keeping a 170th Premier League shut out. 

Goals from Gabriel and Mesut Ozil did the damage at the other end of the pitch as Arsene Wenger’s men responded superbly to the 4-0 thrashing at Southampton on Boxing Day by beating Bournemouth to leapfrog Leicester City, who face fourth-placed Manchester City on Tuesday. 

Reflecting on the record, Cech told Arsenal Player: “It is not every day you break the record of the best league in the world. I must say at the end of the game I was proud.

“I was really pleased we won the game as well because after the game we had at Southampton we had to bounce back in style.

“Overall we had a good performance and near the end, in the last five or 10 minutes, I started to check the clock as you start to think, ‘OK, that is the game and you need to see it through and not concede’ and we did well not to.

“We concentrated until the last second because if even if you concede in the last three minutes then there is added time then it can be a very long five minutes. 

“There can be a mistake and then you can lose the game and you need to concentrate from the start to the finish.

“It cannot be easy sometimes when you are in control and you are 2-0 up and the opposition is pushing for that goal. 

“You have to make sure you are professional, organised and do the right things and we knew how to do it.”