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Cech - The key to making vital saves

Petr Cech says taking a calm assessment of dangerous situations is the key to making important saves.

The experienced goalkeeper has had a big impact at Arsenal since his summer move from London rivals Chelsea.

Cech was particularly pleased with his performance against Liverpool in August, when he made two fine saves to deny Christian Benteke and then Philippe Coutinho.

“[My favourite was] probably the first one against Benteke because Gabriel tried to intercept the ball when he ran across the goal, and until the last fraction of a second I didn’t know whether he was going to touch it or not,” Cech told Arsenal Player.

“I had to wait and I also knew that Benteke was already there. I thought, ‘OK I have to wait to see if he deflects it towards his own goal or whether it will go anywhere else’, and then I knew that I would have to go fast to the other side. I was lucky that I had perfect timing to get there.

“Taking information before the situation happens helps. I knew he was running there so I knew that the moment Gabriel missed the ball I had to get there as fast as possible.

“It’s the awareness that I had two options; to wait and then as soon as the ball went past him, knowing that I had to get there. I was ready for that so as soon as I saw that he would not touch the ball I had already gone.

“Maybe it’s a bit of experience, but I would say it’s taking the information prior to the situation. That was the key in this moment.”