Ahead of our Europa League game against Qarabag this week, Unai Emery has revealed that regular keeper Petr Cech will be out for a few weeks following his hamstring twanger clanger against Watford on Saturday.
STOP PRESS: Emery announces 3-4 weeks out for Cech on Arsenal.com
Bernd Leno replaced the Czech star and had a blinder of a game and will now get a decent run in the side given the extent of Cech’s injury, with the keeper on the sidelines. Being out of action for a week or two will give Cech a chance to play the best online roulette uk.
After the game on Saturday, which we won 2-0 thanks to a late Cathcart own goal and an even later Ozil goal, Unai Emery said:
“I don’t know now, we will look tomorrow (Sunday), I hope not more than maybe two or three weeks he can stay with this injury. It’s muscular…”
Leno did brilliantly to see out the clean sheet against Watford with some great saves, one of note from Troy Deeny, and some excellent punching and clearing of his area to keep the Hornets at bay.
A huge section of Arsenal fans want to see the younger Leno given a chance this season, and now with the injury to Cech, it looks like they’ll get to see him a bit more. German Leno joined Arsenal from Bayer Leverkusen in a £22 million deal over the summer but has found himself playing second fiddle to Cech since his arrival, limited to appearances in the League Cup so far and the cameo appearance against Watford this weekend.
We have an international break coming up, so although Cech will miss Fulham away this weekend, he could return for the Leicester City game on October the 22nd if our Spanish Manager decides to slot him straight back into the side. It’s a slice of luck on Cech’s part that there is an interlull coming up as this will mean he may just miss those two league games if he recovers quickly enough from the injury.
We will know more later in the week but it’s yet to be seen whether Leno will play in our Europa League this week or whether the German will be saved for Premier League action. I personally would imagine third keeper Martinez will feature in Azerbaijan and Leno will make his first Premier League start this Sunday lunchtime. The Argentine Martinez has always done well for me when called upon and Qarabag should prove no problem for the keeper despite the hostile atmosphere and distance we need to travel.
Ex-legend Jens Lehmann has said in the Evening Standard that Leno needs to win silverware to make a success of his Arsenal career:
“He’s a very good shot-stopper, he’s calm, good with his feet, to be a success at Arsenal he will have to win something…”
On Sunday we will attempt to make it six league wins out of six with a win away at Fulham after a stuttering start to the season, we have now quietly moved ourselves up to 5th in the Premier League, despite looking less than convincing so far this term. However, consecutive wins over Everton, Cardiff, Newcastle, Watford and West Ham have seen us find ourselves level with Spurs who are 4th with a slightly better goal difference and more than in touch with the rest of the teams above us, despite unbeaten starts for Chelsea, Liverpool and Man City.
The season started badly for us with two defeats at the hands of the aforementioned Man City and Chelsea, but since then, the squad has rallied under Emery to recover and notch up a few wins as the season starts to take shape under the Spaniard as we continue life without Mr. Wenger.
