Petr Cech believes Arsenal’s trip to Manchester City on Sunday is the perfect fixture for the Gunners after their disappointing defeat at Everton.
Arsene Wenger’s men missed the opportunity to return to the top of the table on Tuesday when they went down 2-1 at Goodison Park and know that a second defeat in quick succession could see them nine points adrift of leader Chelsea in the blink of an eye.
Speaking to Arsenal Player, Cech urged his teammates not to dwell on their first league defeat since 14 August:
“Sometimes I think it is best if after a big game you play another big game. You have opportunities to win, it’s a kind of a six-pointer [against City] – it’s probably a perfect game for us.
On the manner of defeat at Everton he added, “We played well with the ball and we didn’t give them chances. Second half, obviously with the goal they came back into the game and in the Premier League it’s very difficult.
“You can’t control games for 90 minutes, there will be moments where the opponents will show their quality.
“Today, although they were not dangerous for most of the game, they found two goals and in the end you go home with a defeat. But you have to pick yourself up.
“There is a big period coming up now with the games coming thick and fast and there is no time to dwell on the defeat. You have to move on and get ready for the next one.”
Yesterday was infuriatingly lacklustre but Cech is, of course, right. Let’s hope the mature heads like his that we now have can get the rest to wake up a bit and get back on track on Sunday.
Some of the reactions after yesterday were appalling. 1 loss in 14 games and everyone acted like the season is over.
We forget sometimes that other teams deserve to win too. I think Everton deserved it there, they were hungrier and had more fight. I think we are a bit entitled as a fan base. Just my opinion, feel free to debate.
While I understand one defeat in 14 games is no reason to panic; the Premier League this season is more competitive than ever. Chelsea look unstoppable, Liverpool aren’t dropping points, City closed the gap. The top is so tight that even a draw seems like a missed opportunity. Personally, I’ve learned to keep my expectations very low; I barely thought we would get top 4, so here is to hoping we miraculously emerge victorious at the Etihad on Sunday. Though I’m not keeping any hopes up.
Yeah – being at the ground and watching it live, I never saw it slipping away from us, or that we ever looked like getting beaten. But it turns out that it was just one of those games with fine margins – combined with some really poor officiating from Clattenburg. And lets not forget, we should of really come out of there with at least a point. As much as I love Iwobi and think he is such a top talent – you can’t be missing shit like that. 6 yards out, goal at your mercy, you have to be… Read more »
Last night was a nasty setback but as Blogs says this morning, we need a sense of perspective about our current situation. Big Pete’s attitude is exactly the outlook we need. Onwards, chaps.
Don’t think we were as bad last night as many make. It was a 50/50 match of which we have stolen 1 or 3 points pretty much every time this season. Ozil missing that golden chance and some really bad refereeing (not surprisingly) led to Everton building pressure. We have been similarly lucky a few times this season so there is not too much to complain. The fact that we played an unchanged team from last match maybe showed a bit during the second half. Everton were really pumped up for this match too and played actually really well. For… Read more »
Had the misfortune of listening to talksport after the game,forgive me, i work nightshift so i get bored alot. Anyway the total over reaction to Arsenal losing or even drawing a match is fucking laughable, the idiot division of the arsenal fan base lap it up (been quiet for a few months lads) used to think to myself ‘why don’t liverpool, spurs ect’ get a hard time for not winning the league for X amount of years but it’s just lazy journalism at its best. A bit of perspective, 1st away loss in 9 months and first since the start… Read more »
no nonsense ON & OFF the pitch
thats PETR CECH for you
COME ON YOU GUNNERS
Arsenal’s pace in attack suits the sort of open game city will give us. As long as our back 5, along with the central mids, stay disciplined we’ll come out with 3 points
I took the loss very badly last night, but that was mainly due to a personal resentment for both Everton and Ashley Williams. Now that I am calmer, I feel like last night was a game we should have got more from. We have a strong enough squad to learn from this defeat and go to the Etihad with three points as the aim.
COYG!
No need to panic, yestaday was the second time this season that we have lost and the first away defeat in 9 months, let we fans encourage them to bounce back against city not to criticise them #coyg
Where’s Squad Rotation?
He will be an interesting player for us if used right.
Our title hopes will be over before this match even kicks off.
Miserable set of results for us.
Yeah it’s cool to only have lost two matches in the league. Except this isn’t 2015-2016. This season “small” teams are weaker and you have to absolutely win the games against teams below top 6. Want proof? With only 2 loses, we are already 6 points from the league leaders. This week-end City will be without Fernandinho, Gundogan, and Aguero. We have to win. 9-8 points from the top is insurmountable this year, because nobody is smart enough in this country to counter an Italian’s 3-4-3…
What are you talking about? Just because Chelsea have performed well over 16 matches doesn’t have to mean they will keep it up over the next 22. Every team has drops over the course of a season and if they don’t, they really deserve to be champions. I can’t get my head around this short sighted thinking. Any team that has 3-5 decent performances is the best ever (except our own) and after they lose a game unexpectedly, suddenly it was clear that they wouldn’t be able to keep it up. Before the season started, everyone was sure Morinho and… Read more »
Exactly. Six points off. Twenty-two games to go. That’s one point every 3.67 games. Meaning we only need to gain one single, solitary point on Chel$ki every four weeks, in order to catch up to and pass them before the end of the season.
As good as the run is that they’ve been on since we thumped them 3-0, they are NOT invincible. They are NOT going to win every match from now to the end of the season. The title race is NOT over.
Perspective, folks. Perspective.
“small teams are weaker” – don’t really agree. Which teams do you consider small? West ham are performing like a “small team”but drew at liverpool. West brom, Bournemouth, Watford and Burnley are taking points from top teams constantly. Only really weak teams are Hull, Sunderland and maybe palace at times.
We also have 6 very winnable games after City so that match is far from a “must win match”. Would still be good for the morale to get points from the City match, they will probably still be slight favourites for the match.
City game is far from a “must win match” ? 9 points behind a team of same quality is not a problem ?
Petr Cech talks with the maturity of someone who has seen it all. Yes, we most definitely need a “fuck off win.” For the fans, but most crucially, for this group of players – there’s nothing like a big win to enhance your self-belief. On a side note, I think fatigue was a big factor here. We were just “leggy.” People (rightly) talk about the clear cut second half opportunity for Özil, but I feel it was the first half pass from Monreal where he really looked fatigued. Sure, it was slightly behind him, but I think a fresher Mesut… Read more »
Agree totally and one must wonder why Wenger didn’t rotate for this match as he has done so well this season. The only reason would be that he considers the City match more suitable for Lucas, Iwobi, Gibbs and maybe Elneny. Özil looked tired, yes well no wonder as it was his 3 match in 7 days.
We also need Ramsey back to provide an box-to-box engine to midfield. Xhaka and Coq are a bit limited as neither of them can make offensive runs from midfield. Elneny can also do that but Ramsey is more physical.
By box to box Ramsey you mean opposition box and back again to opposition box Ramsey, ya?
Sorry, not hating, but he seemed like the last guy who will grow a ridiculous ego. He was so good that one season he actually was box to box
Love this guy, laughed my head off when I saw him fall into Evertons net trying to grab an equaliser in the dying moments of the match. Couldn’t have been further away from his goal if he tried.