Petr Čech has still failed to save a single penalty with Arsenal, conceding yet another spot-kick to Watford at the weekend to take his tally to 12.
The 35-year-old made it 12 penalties conceded with the Gunners on Saturday, excluding the Community Shield match against Chelsea. Surprisingly, Arsenal have only actually lost three of the games the veteran shot-stopper has conceded a penalty in.
12 – Petr Cech has failed to save any of the 12 penalties he has faced with Arsenal in all competitions. Rooted. pic.twitter.com/7uZyt9EOXp
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) October 14, 2017
The reason the record became such a big deal is because there were just so many more penalties given away last season. In 2015/16, Čech’s first season, Arsenal gave away one penalty in the Premier League and one in the Champions League. Last season, the Gunners managed to give away nine.
When you gift your opposition nine penalties in a season and your keeper doesn’t save a single one, it’ll start to stick in people’s minds. And based on the fact they keep going in, maybe Čech is starting to overthink things.
If Arsenal insist on giving away so many penalties, either the ex-Chelsea man is going to have to start pulling off some saves, or the Gunners might have to look for a goalkeeper with a better record keeping them out.
What’s odd is that Cech didn’t struggle from 12 yards when he was at Chelsea, making 13 penalty saves between 2004 and 2014. Here’s hoping he can prove his worth in one-on-one situations if we give away any more spot-kicks.