Interview

Cech on what went wrong at Bournemouth

We looked in control midway through the second half at Bournemouth.

Hector Bellerin’s 52nd-minute opener had given us the lead - but then the hosts turned the game around with two goals in the space of four minutes. 

After the match, Petr Cech spoke to the media to discuss what went wrong:

on how we lost…

It’s disappointing because I thought for most of the game, we did really well. In the second half, we obviously needed to score the first goal, because the game was very tight. They tried to press us all over the pitch and did really well with that in the first half. In the second half, we knew that if we kept going, we could find the goal, which in the end we found. After the goal, I thought we [had] more possession, started controlling the game more and that’s when we conceded two goals. That’s disappointing because when we were put under pressure in the first half, we did better.

on how disappointing the goals were…

Obviously the first one I’m disappointed with because I thought I was going to cut the cross on time. Wilson arrived faster in front of me. It’s a matter of split seconds but I think I should have done better on that. The second one had an element of luck. It was a good long ball behind but it was everybody’s ball and it fell right in front of the player and he managed to shoot it very hard and squeeze it through my body. In that one, we were a bit unlucky. They rode their luck, they worked very hard all day and in the end, they got a big reward.

on Lacazette being without a goal in nine - and why that is…

At the start of the season, he played well and scored goals, which was really good for his confidence. You have games where you don’t score, it happens for every striker and it’s a moment where you have to keep working and hope that the luck changes. He keeps working and I believe that, with his quality, his luck will change.

on a difficult spell for Arsenal without a win in five…

The situation becomes very dangerous for us because we want to be in the top four at least. When you lose games like we have so far this season away from home, where we were in a position to win, you leave yourself a mountain to climb. With every game comes a bit more pressure, so hopefully we will manage to get the ready for the next one, win it and kick from there.