'I'm surprised at the questions over Cech'

When Unai Emery named Petr Cech in his starting XI for our opening game of the season, it raised some eyebrows in the media.

But our head coach is convinced by all of his goalkeepers, and feels that the former Czech international has reminded many of his enduring quality this season.

Emery faced the media after we beat Everton 2-0, with Cech in inspired form, and this is what he said about the competition for the No 1 spot.

on Petr Cech’s performance…

I’m very happy with the goalkeepers who are working with us, Emi, Leno and Petr. Petr has a big experience and a big quality. He’s started the season very well and we think he’s giving us the performance we want. Today he showed us that he’s very good and continuing to work hard with this spirit every day. For the other goalkeepers, it’s the same. They’re doing very well and are working very hard to make sure they’re ready to give the team their best performance, like Cech today.

on people forgetting Cech’s quality…

I’m a little surprised because there have been a lot of questions over Cech. In pre-season and also in the first matches with us, he’s played with good performances. Bernd Leno will also improve with us and learn about this competition here. For him, he’s also doing very well and benefiting from working every day with a goalkeeper like Petr Cech. He’s learning from him, giving him experience and he’s watching him in games like today. Leno is a younger goalkeeper and he is coming here with a big future, but now, it’s a very competitive position. Petr Cech is very important for us.

 

on what he will say to Leno…

Leno is calm and knows now that he’s working well, but also we have three goalkeepers and Petr Cech is delivering good performances. We are going to give them chances to play in other competitions, but we want the same performances like Petr’s. It’s good for the team, for the goalkeepers, to reward good performances.