Emery to stick with Cech for Arsenal’s visit to Chelsea
Arsenal manager Unai Emery will keep faith with goalkeeper Petr Cech for his return to Chelsea on Saturday.
Cech, 36, struggled with Emery’s orders to play out from the back in the Spanish manager’s first game in charge as Arsenal lost 2-0 to Premier League champions Manchester City last weekend.
Emery surprisingly left Bernd Leno on the bench despite Arsenal spending £20 million (Dh93.4m) on the German ‘keeper from Bayer Leverkusen in June.
“For Saturday, the decision for me is easy. Petr Cech can continue to start the match, I believe in him. But if [in future] Bernd starts, I believe in him also,” Emery said on Thursday.
Cech, who spent 11 years at Chelsea before joining Arsenal in 2015, nearly scored a comical own goal against City as a misplaced pass across his own area went just wide of the post.
And when Cech finally played one clearance long into the City half, it was met by huge cheers by the Arsenal fans.
But Emery insisted he will not change his ways despite being labelled by former England manager Sam Allardyce as “stupid” for his approach.
“We are going to play away but we need to keep our personality, keep our mentality,” Emery added.
“On Sunday against Manchester City, the team kept their ideas, kept their spirit in
the game for the full 90 minutes, even when we were losing, and didn’t let their heads go down.”
One problem area for Emery may be solved by the return of Nacho Monreal at left-back.
Ainsley Maitland-Niles started against City but had to be replaced early on by Stephan Lichtsteiner after suffering a leg fracture that will keep him out for at least two months. Claude Puel claimed he would be “happy” for anyone succeeding him as Leicester City manager due to the quality they would inherit – but he stressed “speculation” about his position was not his worry.
It has been reported that Puel is in danger of being dismissed, with Saturday’s home clash against Wolves and the trip to Southampton a week later crucial to his hopes of keeping his job, and that Belgium’s management duo of Roberto Martinez and Thierry Henry could replace him.
Leicester opened their campaign with a 2-1 defeat at Manchester United on Friday, having lost five of their final seven games last season, which they finished in ninth place.
Puel, appointed last October, was quoted by the Leicester Mercury as saying: “It’s just speculation.
“I would be happy for my successor, because he would have a good squad and a very good team.”