Petr Cech: Arsenal's failure to punish Middlesbrough was 'unlike' Gunners

1/13
Standard Sport22 October 2016

Petr Cech was left surprised by Arsenal's failure to take their chances against Middlesbrough as Arsene Wenger's side were held to a goalless Premier League draw on Saturday.

Arsenal headed into the game full of confidence following a 6-0 Champions League win against Ludogorets Razgrad, but failed to find the net against Aitor Karanka's Boro at the Emirates Stadium.

Things could have been ever worse for Arsene Wenger's side had Cech not made a number of important saves to deny the visitors a surprise victory in north London, and the goalkeeper sauys the Gunners' lack of composure cost them any chance of a win.

Cech told BBC Sport: "We had a lot of possession but we rushed it a bit in the final third.

"We could have kept our cool better, to find a better pass for opportunities to score.

"That is unlike us. In the end, we did not find the goal which is a shame.

"They had chances too so the draw is a fair result. When they did not take their chances, I thought we would punish them.

"There is a long way to go, there are plenty of games left and we look in good shape."

Karanka was delighted with Boro's point, saying: "It was an amazing performance from my team especially after the last defeat at home. We were training this week and the plan worked. For me, it is good if you come here and their best player is Petr Cech.

"We have to keep going, keep working and we have shown we can compete with the best teams in the Premier League.

"I said I did not want to panic the boys but they have quality players and we have to defend. We were organised, the transition was good and this team and fans deserve to live these moments.

"Every single game in the Premier League is important. It is good to enjoy it for a few hours but it will be back to work tomorrow for the Bournemouth game. We need as many points as possible.

"We have to grow, we have to learn for experience. Once again, adding this kind of point and to see this team performance is pleasing."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in