Petr Cech has revealed that Arsenal’s 4-0 defeat to Liverpool in August was his worst experience as a player.
If you watched the 4-0 defeat at Anfield earlier this season, I probably don’t need to remind you how humiliating it was. And apparently it wasn’t any better for the Arsenal players taking part. At least that’s what Cech claims.
“It was probably one of the worst experiences I have had as a player,” he said.
“When you stand there at 4-0 down, and you can see it could have been even more because the performance was that poor… it was probably the worst game we played all season. We got battered. We need to make sure this time we are ready.
“But I think we improved after that game. I thought we showed a good reaction from everyone. In the next game, we played Chelsea away, we got a clean sheet, we got a 0-0, we played really well. It was probably a good slap and showed that in this league when you are not ready you can get hammered.
“We gave them three points in the first game and we can’t give them more points.”
The 35-year-old managed to make seven saves during the match, which saw Jurgen Klopp’s men completely tear us apart with goals from Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mané, Mohamed Salad and Daniel Sturridge.
Cech’s memories of playing Liverpool can’t have been all that great up until that point anyway. The goalkeeper has shipped 43 goals and kept just 12 clean sheets against the Reds in 35 Premier League matches.
The former Czech Republic international’s record against Liverpool is down there with his form against Manchester United. He’s shipped 43 goals and kept just nine clean sheets in 32 appearances against the Red Devils.
Hopefully, Arsenal’s Premier League clash against Liverpool on Friday is a little difference since we’re at the Emirates. However, I wouldn’t bank on keeping a clean sheet, that’s for sure. If we can’t keep out Southampton’s attack, we almost certainly won’t keep out Liverpool’s.