Peter Henry
Arsenal ‘keeper Petr Cech reckons his side gave Manchester City a much more difficult test at the Emirates last Sunday, than his former club Chelsea did in the Community Shield.
Premier League Champions City dispatched Chelsea 3-0 at Wembley before beating Arsenal 2-0 in their league opener as they carried over their dominant form from last season.
However, Cech believes the Gunners caused Guardiola’s side a lot more problems than they faced against Maurizio Sarri’s men, with the 36-year-old insistent that the experience will put Unai Emery’s men in good stead for when they travel to Stamford Bridge to face Chelsea this Saturday evening.
“We faced probably the biggest favourite to win the title, next week we have another big game at Chelsea on Saturday.
“But we will be better prepared because we have this game behind us.
“I believe we pushed them more than Chelsea did in the Community Shield.
“We forced them into a few mistakes with our pressing, we built up from the back and – even when we knew the pressure was coming – we managed to get out.
“We didn’t want to give them the ball easily so they can just control the game all day.
“We set this out and I think you need to be brave to do that and carry on even when you know the pressure is coming and we managed to do so.
“There are things we obviously need to improve, the second phase to go through that build-up, but overall I think it was a positive performance.”