News

'We know we can perform under pressure'

Petr Cech says Arsenal have proved they can perform under pressure following Wednesday’s Champions League decider against Olympiacos.

The Gunners had the odds stacked against them as they were required to beat the Greek champions by two goals to qualify from Group F amid a hostile atmosphere at Karaiskakis Stadium.

However, Arsene Wenger’s side produced a commanding performance to win 3-0, courtesy of an Olivier Giroud hat-trick, and Cech believes the experience of fighting back from difficult situations will help them over the course of the season.

"There’s always pressure in games where the circumstances are difficult but once you’ve experienced that then it gives everybody confidence"

Petr Cech

“We are ready to play under pressure,” he told Arsenal Player. “This is something that is really nice to know because we are playing for the title and that will bring the pressure on. Then when you go further in the cup competitions the play-off rounds come up so you will definitely play under pressure.

“If you want to progress and go as far as possible then you have to keep winning games. It might be that it doesn’t go well for you in one of those games and you have to chase it, so it’s good to know that we’ve been in that situation before and we can actually do it, regardless of the circumstances.

“Hopefully it will help us to progress as a team for the next phase of the league and also in the Champions League. There’s always pressure in games where the circumstances are difficult, especially when you play away from home and need to get the result. Once you’ve experienced that then it gives everybody confidence.”

Giroud now has 10 goals in his last 12 matches and Cech had plenty of praise for the France striker.

“You have to give Olivier a lot of credit because for a long period of the season Theo was injured and Danny has been injured, so there’s obviously a lot of pressure on him,” the goalkeeper said. “We rely on him but he’s shown that he’s up to the challenge and he’s kept scoring important goals.

“He’s strong, big and obviously he can score. This is what you want from your striker so all the time he is scoring goals he is very important for the team. It’s great for his confidence as well because if you ask any striker, the biggest cure for them is to score goals. We hope he will continue playing well and having chances to score goals.”

Petr Cech

Petr Cech