Petr Cech ready to prove to Unai Emery he can be Arsenal number one despite Bernd Leno arrival

Rivals | Leno and Cech are vying to be Arsenal's first-choice shot-stopper
Arsenal FC via Getty Images
James Benge28 July 2018

Petr Cech says he is ready to prove to Unai Emery that he can be Arsenal’s first-choice goalkeeper after the arrival of Bernd Leno.

Cech has been Arsenal’s first-choice goalkeeper since arriving from Chelsea in 2015 and took the No.1 shirt this summer.

However the 36-year-old faces a major challenge to secure a starting spot over Leno, a £22million signing from Bayer Leverkusen who is expected to begin the season as Emery’s incumbent shot stopper.

Cech will not give up his starting role without a fight.

“At the start I said I want to fight for my place in this team, I will honour my contract unless the club tells me to go,” Cech said.

“I’m performing every day, I’m trying to training hard and [to be] ready when my opportunities come.

“Obviously, I want to show the manager that I can be the starting goalkeeper.

In Pictures | New Arsenal third kit 2018-19

1/18

“All the goalkeepers in our club do the same, all the players in their position do the same and it’s great for the team.”

Leno made his first appearance for Arsenal in a behind closed doors friendly against Crawley Town last week before the Gunners travelled to Singapore, where the German featured in a 1-1 draw with Atletico Madrid that ended in a 3-1 penalty shoot-out defeat.

The 26-year-old was a relatively late arrival to pre-season training but is already making an impression on Cech.

“As a new player you need to find a way to adapt to the team, there are so many things that might be new for a new player, including Bernd,” Cech said.

“He’s been working really hard and really well in every training session.

“That’s the only thing as a new player that you can do. I’m sure he has the same ambition as I have, and then we need to see what will be the outcome.”

With Leno having arrived and Cech intending to stay David Ospina is expected to leave the club after four years. Besiktas, whose first-choice goalkeeper Fabri joined Fulham for £5m earlier this week, are leading the race for the Colombian.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in