Over ten years with a club and hundreds of appearances with many trophy laden years including the Champions League and Premier League titles would be enough for most. It would allow a player to happily call time on his career. Petr Cech, on the other hand, had other ideas.
With the arrival of young Belgian Thibaut Courtois at Chelsea, Cech’s place in the starting team was immediately put under threat and he was eventually relegated to the bench with the Belgian preferred.
Other players may have been tempted to sit back while still being paid for being a backup. Once more, Cech had other ideas. A move across London to rivals Arsenal before the 2015-16 season meant two things. An end to a glorious decade at Chelsea for Cech and the arrival of a player at Arsenal that seemed to signal a turning point, the final piece of the puzzle as Arsenal have for so long been yearning for a truly world class goalkeeper.
Why Petr Cech is the last piece in the puzzle for Arsenal
Last season, Arsenal conceded 36 goals in 38 games and the Premier League was out of their reach before the turn of the year after consecutive draws against Everton, Leicester and Manchester City preceded defeats to Chelsea, Swansea, Manchester United and Stoke. This meant they had eight wins from 19 games in comparison to eventual champions Chelsea’s fourteen.
This season is a different story though, with Arsenal joint top alongside Manchester City with 22 points from ten games having conceded eight. Coupled with their 18 goals this season they have the joint best defensive record along with Tottenham and both Manchester teams with only eight goals conceded.
So what is different this term? Defensively Arsenal just seem far more sound in comparison to last season. While Laurent Koscielny has steadily developed a strong partnership at the heart of the defence with both Per Mertesacker and Gabriel, the resurgence of Nacho Monreal along with the rise of Hector Bellerin have allowed Arsenal’s forwards to thrive knowing that they won’t concede every time they lose the ball due to a creaky defence.
In conjunction with this is the effect of a world class goalkeeper behind them. In recent times there has been far too much indecision and hesitancy which have either lead to chances or goals.
Since Jens Lehmann, Arsenal have seen Vito Mannone, Lukasz Fabianski and Manuel Almunia depart and Wojciech Szczesny leave for Roma on loan while David Ospina was relegated to the bench, barring two disastrous Champions League games this season. Cech’s arrival was met by universal approval and he immediately vindicated Wenger’s decision to sign him. A strong performance which earned him the man of the match award also helped his team beat German behemoths Bayern Munich — the best display of his class yet.
It can be claimed that the introduction of such a superb goalkeeper has put in place the final piece in the jigsaw for Arsenal. The fact Wenger only decided to bring in one player in the transfer window, shows that he feels he has the squad to challenge for the Premier League title.
The big money signings of Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Özil along with keeping key players such as Santi Cazorla, Aaron Ramsey and Laurent Koscielny means Arsenal have slowly but surely been able to strengthen their squad.
Arsenal’s attempted title challenge will not be without its flaws. Injuries and shock losses are not new to Arsenal, but this time they have the squad to cope with a few injury setbacks along the way. The introduction of such a cool-headed and experienced title winner in Petr Cech could prove the difference between Arsenal bouncing back after a defeat or losing their next four games and knocking themselves out of the title race for another year.
However, fans have been calling for a new striker to go with a new goalkeeper in recent times. There are still question marks over Theo Walcott’s credentials as an out-and-out striker, whilst Olivier Giroud seems to blow hot and cold. The acquisition of a world class striker such as Edinson Cavani or Karim Benzema, with whom Arsenal were heavily linked in the summer, would immediately improve their title winning credentials.
Can Arsenal win the title? Most Arsenal fans at the start of the season would have said yes as enthusiastically as any Chelsea or Manchester City fan. The difference now is, barring a remarkable turnaround, Chelsea seem to be all but out of the title race while City once again set the pace. In times gone by it would have been Arsenal that were almost out of the title race yet they are the ones tussling with Manchester City at the summit.
The difference between Arsenal and the title-winning teams of the last few years is that when Arsenal have gone through a patch of bad form it has escalated and they have lost a number of games on the bounce. This is in stark contrast to Chelsea last season and Manchester City the season before who both went through rough patches in form but did not let it define their season. They both found ways to pick up the points that kept them away from the trailing pack.
The battle lies in equal measures both on the field and mentally. Arsenal have threatened to challenge for many years but have fallen to the wayside too often. This time, they have more chance than ever of winning it.
