by Lewis Ambrose

Following his Arsenal debut, Petr Čech told SkySports that he was happy with the way he and Arsenal performed.

The Gunners beat Everton 3-1 in the final of the Barclays Asia Trophy and the goalkeeper, unlucky not to keep a clean sheet, was pleased with his performance.

Čech is 33 years old, playing with new teammates and hasn’t played regular football for over a year; this pre-season is a big one for the goalkeeper as he prepared for his Arsenal career.

“It was great finally to have a game under the belt,” Čech said after the win.

“Obviously the first game for me in pre-season and with the team so it was important first to get fit, secondly to get to know everybody and the main thing was to win the game.

“I’m obviously delighted with my first game, we won the game and we played really well.”

The Arsenal goalkeeper was called into action a few times and made a superb save from Steven Naismith with the score at 1-0, tipping a header from the Scotsman onto the bar.

 

“I’m happy with the way I played, obviously I had two not great passes but it was the first game of pre-season and as I said I’m glad I got through 90 minutes and I’m happy with the way I was concentrating the whole game.”

“We did well because EVE is a very good side and in that Stoke game they played with a very good intensity – and today as well – and we matched them and put more quality into our finishing.”

Arsenal fans will be happy with the performance of the new goalkeeper. If he continues to make saves like the one from Naismith the £11M fee will look a bargain, even for a man of his age.