No-one is more deserving of clean sheet record than Arsenal's Petr Cech, says former West Ham keeper David James

Top of the pile: Cech holds the Premier League clean sheet record
(Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)
James Benge27 January 2016

EXCLUSIVE

David James could not wish for a more deserving player to take his Premier League clean sheet record than Arsenal’s Petr Cech.

The 33-year-old took his tally of shutouts to 170 in 352 appearances in December’s 2-0 victory over Bournemouth, overtaking James’ record dating back to 2010.

It capped a remarkable turnaround in fortunes for Cech, who just a year ago had found himself on the Chelsea bench behind the youthful Thibaut Courtois.

A £10 million move across London to Arsenal has revitalized Cech, whose inspirational form has been crucial in his new side’s charge towards a first title since 2004.

And whilst the former West Ham, Liverpool and Portsmouth goalkeeper is understandably disappointed to see his own record, cultivated over 572 matches between his 1992 debut with Liverpool and his 2010 swansong at Portsmouth, disappear it’s not surprise to him that Cech should be the one to take it.

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BT Sport pundit James told Standard Sport: “When Petr Cech signed for Chelsea I said to John Terry: ‘What’s that geezer like?’

“He said: ‘Jamo, if you cross it he catches it, if you shoot he saves it.’ He sounded alright. And if you look at his record over the last decade, this guy has been averaging a clean sheet every two games.

“He might have had quite a bit of time out of the starting lineup last yet but when you’ve been able to consistently keep clean sheets over a long period of time it’s no fluke.”

James had known for some time that his time at the peak of the Premier League shot-stoppers would be coming to an end, whilst Cech himself had to through 180 minutes of personal disappointment against Manchester City and Southampton to secure the crown.

It is an honour that his predecessor believes Cech thoroughly deserves.

“I spoke to him a few weeks ago and realised once more what a wonderful bloke he is,” he added. “He’s not someone who comes out, does a bit of training and gets a few clean sheets. He thinks about every aspect of his game, how he can improve as an individual and how his improvement can help the team.

“He is a determined winner. He was buzzing off the fact he jumped 1.85m when he was 15 years old, I told him I did two metres. I could see an unhappy look in his eye, to be fair I was clutching at straws because of the clean sheet record.

“For 11 years he’s been in one of the top teams in the country and you don’t last that long if you’re not good enough. I can’t think of any goalkeepers that demand that kind of respect, if anyone was going to beat me, you can’t have anyone better than him.

“If he wasn’t such a decent guy, I’d try to find something bad to say about him.”

BT Sport

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