Every single Arsenal fan is well aware that Petr Cech’s record of never saving a penalty for Arsenal has been a handicap for the Gunners ever since his arrival, and their have been games where a save would have made a massive difference (West Brom is the first example that comes to mind).
Also we all know that the Czech veteran is having trouble getting his record of 200 clean sheets because we haven’t kept a clean sheet for 9 games with Petr in goal. Well we all know that in the Europa League David Ospina was used, and guess what? Not only did we keep a clean sheet, but he even saved a penalty in the last minute. Did Wenger notice this? Here is what he said: “For me [the penalty save] was very important, to not tarnish our performance tonight,”
“It would have been a bitter taste.
“We did the job. We started well and controlled the game against a side who are good, you can see it’s a quality team, but once we opened the score I think we were in control.
“Maybe we didn’t push enough in the final third in the second half, but overall we played a serious game, job done. (They looked) very nervous at the start and we took advantage of it.”
So could this be a wake up call for Wenger? Is it time for us to finally accept that Cech is getting a little past his prime?
Darren N