Last night’s 2-0 victory against Bournemouth saw Petr Cech finally break David James’ Premier League clean sheet record.
The 33-year-old Czech international now has 170 clean sheets in 352 appearances in England’s top flight (including eight in 19 games for Arsenal).
To put the record in context, he took 220 fewer games than James to hit the figure. Moreover, his average of 0.48 clean sheets per game is marginally better than David Seaman who registered 142 clean sheets in 344 Premier League games.
Interestingly, Cech actually has 174 clean sheets to his name, however, four do not officially count as he did not play the full 90 minutes.
It’s also worth noting that this is a Premier League record only.
Top 10 all-time Premier League clean sheet record
- Petr Cech – 170
- David James – 169
- Mark Schwarzer – 152
- David Seaman – 142
- Nigel Martyn – 138
- Pepe Reina – 134
- Edwin van der Sar -134
- Brad Friedel – 132
- Tim Howard – 130
- Peter Schmeichel – 129
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Speaking to Arsenal’s Final Whistle show last week, prior to beating the record, Cech revealed the keepers that inspired him during his formative years:
“When I was a kid I looked up to every goalkeeper and tried to learn from all of them. I tried to pick up the pieces and complete the puzzle using all of their best attributes.
“If you look at Oliver Kahn you would see his character and aggression, he was living the game, and then you look at Peter Schmeichel’s presence and his key saves. Edwin van der Sar was fantastic at Ajax and then he did well in England.
“Gianluigi Buffon started playing when he was very young so I thought, ‘Wow, if he can play aged 18, why can’t I play aged 18?’. These are things you pick up and you try to take the best of everyone for yourself and work on things you can improve.”
On breaking the record last night, Cech added: “It’s a great personal achievement and I felt really proud at the end of the game because if you look at the names in the clean sheet numbers and you see all those fantastic goalkeepers who had been playing and are still playing in this league then obviously it is a great achievement to top the list. I’m very pleased after the game we had at Southampton that the clean sheet brought three points as well because we won 2-0.”
He also took to Twitter:
Thank you very much for all the messages !!! Really appreciate it and it means a lot to me !!! @Arsenal @ChelseaFC ???
— Petr Cech (@PetrCech) December 28, 2015
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There was further praise from inside the camp and beyond…
Arsene Wenger: “I think he can be very proud of that because it is a remarkable achievement and people once again don’t realise how much commitment is behind that, the focus and consistency in his attitude. On top of that he is a remarkably gifted goalkeeper. The consistency is the most difficult to achieve for somebody.”
Calum Chambers: “It is unbelievable. He is an amazing teammate to have. Every day he is talking to me in training and giving me advice and tips so he is a great player to train alongside.”
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Hector Bellerin
Back to winning ways with a clean sheet! Also congrats to @petrcech on your 170 record clean sheets!! #COYG pic.twitter.com/WOE0MB1eIA — Héctor Bellerín (@HectorBellerin) December 28, 2015
Theo Walcott
Top of PL table & @petrcech makes history – 170 clean sheets #COYG pic.twitter.com/QRdLFtiEpL — Theo Walcott (@theowalcott) December 28, 2015
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
Top of the league for now and a good way to end the year. Well done to the big man @petrcech on his clean sheet record as well ?? #AFC A photo posted by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (@alexoxchamberlain) on
A small team in West London
Congratulations to Chelsea legend @PetrCech on breaking the @premierleague clean sheet record. — Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) December 28, 2015
Stoke City’s Jack Butland
congratulations @PetrCech ?? incredible achievement, and many more to add I’m sure! — Jack Butland (@JackButland_One) December 28, 2015
David James
Congratulations @PetrCech Premier League clean sheet record holder. Plenty more to come! What a guy! — David James (@jamosfoundation) December 28, 2015
Can I just skip the chelski part?
Not only is he world class but he has impacted the performances of each and every Arsenal player in that pitch in one way or another. I don’t know what else I could ask from him really. wow.
Where is Lehman in that list……..#wengerout
In other news am happy that the record will be in Arsenal name not in the name of some small clubs in which you cant be proud of……. But with Arsenal you can always be proud. More records to be broken in 2016
#TopoftheLeague
Congrats petr…..frightening to think what the record will be by the time this guy retires, given the fact that he still has a few more years to go in his career.
Does anybody know the record beyond the Premier League? He can’t be that far behind it.
I hope at Arsenal he goes on to become the greatest keeper in the history of the sport.
Cech out Petr’s new record!
Well done cech and he will beat his record of 170 clean sheets remarkable goalkeeping, and also helped team go top of prem congrats coyg
I feel bad that I once hated Cech…. He is a class act. A true professional
To be fair he has played on decidedly better teams than did David James. Not saying that James was better only it is more difficult to keep a clean sheet when you are facing 5 shots than when you are called upon to face 20.
To be fairer, Cech was a large part of what made those teams better.
Congrats Cech! What a professional.. He brings so much composure to the back line. Hope he wins us the league. COYG!
Relegation strugglers Chelsea would deem to claim ownership of most of the clean sheets.
Whats important though is he’s ours now.;)
Media are now talking it up as a master stroke by Wenger to get him for 11m. The same nunces weren’t saying this start of the season. They were taking Wenger to task for not buying a striker (checked our goals scored this season lately, only leicester and City have slightly more) and instead for buying a keeper who could be well over the hill. The media are now turning 360 and some of the plonkers are saying its Arsenal’s to lose (like they said it was Chelsea before start of season and after buying spree) Don’t believe a word… Read more »
The other thing with Cech is he is another player come in that has great influence on our younger players. What’s different between the current crop of young players making the transition (Bellerin, Coquelin, Campbell, Ox) to the Denilson generation is Wenger has 1) Since rebuilding with Arteta’s introduction first, ensured experience to chaperone the players in all positions 2) Ensured with top buys in Ozil, Alexis and Cech that they have good role models to emulate in hard work, attitude and playing sense. You can see Ox has taken a lot on since Alexis came in. Ditto Cech provides… Read more »
Congratulations to Petr Cech, Arsenal Fc amd the wonderful Fans too, long may the good things continue. COYG!