GOALKEEPERS have long proven to be a blind spot for Arsene Wenger. Apart from David Seaman and Jens Lehmann, the Arsenal manager has seldom enjoyed luck filling that important position with men of world-class pedigree.
In the pursuit of perfection, in the 11 years since The Invincibles, Wenger has experimented with several alternatives.
The likes of Lukasz Fabianski, Wojciech Szczesny and David Ospina have all been used in the No.1 spot in recent years - and yet they have all seemingly failed to install much confidence within the backline. It has often proved to be a weakness in Wenger's thinking and gameplans.
Until now, perhaps and the much-publicised purchase of Petr Cech from Chelsea for a £10m.
On the eve of this Community Shield, the Brazilian striker Diego Costa perhaps betrayed the mood in the Chelsea dressing room when he said that the move of Cech from west to north London may come back to haunt the Premier League champions.
If that is indeed the prevailing thought within the Chelsea playing ranks, then Cech's solid and confidence-boosting performance today for Arsenal against his former teammates - and, most importantly, a clean sheet - would have reinforced the belief that he is the final piece in manager Wenger's title-contending jigsaw.
Questions had been asked in the build-up about what type of acknowledgment he would receive. Yet in contrast to Cesc Fabgreas, who has not been forgiven by some Gunners fans for plying his trade with the West London club, albeit via a stint with Barcelona, Cech received a warm, gracious reception before kick-off from the Chelsea supporters.
They remember that this is a goalkeeper who, when he joined Chelsea from French club Rennes in 2004 for £7m, became one of the pillars of strength in the Roma Abramovich Russian revolution.
Four league titles, four FA Cups, three League Cups, one Europa League and, of course, one famous Champions League triumph within 11 glorious years was testimony to an outstanding career for the Czech Republic international in English football.
It was, therefore, understandable that when the excellent 23-year-old Thibaut Courtois was brought back into the fold, having excelled on European and La Liga duty with Atletico Madrid, that one of the two goalkeepers would not be happy at having to play second fiddle.
Cech, the other man by 10 years, decided that one season would be enough. After only seven 2014-15 Premier League appearances, he chose to leave for new pastures. Though Jose Mourinho was understandably reluctant to sell him to one of his close rivals - and to a manager, in Wenger, whom he regularly ridicules - the owner permitted the sale on the basis on longevity and genuine respect.
So here we were: the second day of August, Cech's first match in Gunners colours against his old club at Wembley, trying to deny his former teammates the first trophy of the season.
In Chelsea's previous five matches against Arsenal, their defence had kept five successive clean sheets. Yet it was poor Courtois, not Cech, who saw the defensive fortress wall broken midway through the first half when Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain cut in from the right-hand side, drifted past his marker and then delivered a left-footed finish with both purpose and quality that few goalkeepers could have stopped.
Courtois is a good goalkeeper and had a reasonably competent game - yet he was the understudy and the footnote to Cech.
In the second half, Cech, wearing his familiar head cap, had his back to the Arsenal fans but with the sun in his eyes. He was solid in goal, taking his catches with ease, his distribution was efficient.
His presence, too, seemed to put off ex-colleagues. Especially Belgian Eden Hazard who blazed over the crossbar on 61 minutes.
Notably, there was a double-handed save to his right-hand side, pushing the ball around for a corner from an Oscar in the closing stages.
That brought about, to the delight of the Arsenal fans, to the annoyance of those wearing Chelsea colour, a chorus of "Cech's a Gooner'. If he continues playing like this, then that probably won't be the last time it is sung in glee during the course of the season.
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