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Petr Cech delighted with clean-sheet record

Petr Cech will ensure his record-breaking jersey is washed and signed by the rest of his Arsenal team-mates, but insists a 170th Premier League clean sheet will only take on extra significance, if it’s accompanied by a fifth championship winners’ medal in May. Cech is not dismissive of the landmark achieved in Monday’s 2-0 victory…

Petr Cech

Petr Cech will ensure his record-breaking jersey is washed and signed by the rest of his Arsenal team-mates, but insists a 170th Premier League clean sheet will only take on extra significance, if it’s accompanied by a fifth championship winners’ medal in May.

Cech is not dismissive of the landmark achieved in Monday’s 2-0 victory against Bournemouth, far from it.

As someone whose father kept a scrapbook of all his achievements since he started out in the Czech Republic, the 33-year-old is hugely proud of passing the number of times that David James kept the opposition out.

“I have to confess that I started thinking [about the record] in the last 10 minutes. I was checking the clock. I was thinking ‘Okay, we are in the lead, we are in control, hopefully we can see this through.’ And we did a really good job,’ said Cech.

“I will keep the shirt and once I wash it, then I will make the players sign it. Just to have the memory of the game. Clean Sheet 

“I feel really proud because I believe that this is the best league in the world and one of the most difficult leagues to play for a goalkeeper. So to have achieved such a record, obviously, it’s a great personal achievement so I’m really proud of that.”

And yet the bigger picture is whether Arsenal, who went top by beating the newly-promoted side with goals from Gabriel and Mesut Ozil, can win their first Premier League title for Arsene Wenger since the Invincibles in 2004.

Cech has a huge part to play. He is a serial winner and was signed last summer for his knowhow, lifting the trophy at Chelsea under Jose Mourinho (2005, 2006, 2015) and Carlo Ancelotti (2010). Clean Sheet 

“What makes me happy the most, probably, is that these clean sheets so far brought four Premier League trophies,’ he acknowledges. ‘So hopefully we will add clean sheets this season and we will celebrate at the end of the season, because this is far more important.”

Back home, Cech Snr will be logging his son’s record. ‘My father has a book from since I started playing games, he wrote down the games that I played in. When I did my website, we thought that was a really good idea, that people can keep track of my games. I am easy to track.

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