Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech has revealed what the Gunners have been lacking in comparison with his former side Chelsea ahead of the Europa League final.
The 37-year-old will play his final game as a professional footballer against his former side on Wednesday but his comments before the massive tie could irk Arsenal fans. Cech claimed that there isn’t enough pressure at Arsenal compared to the Blues which he feels has been the reason for their downfall over the last few years.
He said: “It will sound strange but I think generally at Arsenal there is not enough pressure. It sounds very strange but Arsene (Wenger) is a real gentleman.
“As much as he hates losing, he stays a gentleman. If you lose, you win, you lose, you win he kind of carries on. That’s something I’ve never experienced before. At Chelsea, at the times when we drew, it felt like a funeral in the dressing room. It was so bad, even drawing the game.”
Cech claimed that the Gunners always delivered when there was pressure to win and backed it with examples in the Premier League and the Champions League.
“You go to Athens in the last Champions League group game needing to win 2-0, you win 3-0. The last six games of the season where we were fifth, we had to win all the games to have a chance to go back into the top four in Arsene’s last season, we won all the games.”
Cech also cited the games against Napoli and Rennes this season when people questioned Arsenal’s ability to finish the job and he claimed that the pressure helped the Gunners secure the victories as they made their way into the final.
He also claimed that adding more pressure on everybody will give the players more to think about which in turn will help them perform in the future.
The pressure is well and truly on Arsenal ahead of the big game on Wednesday and if the Gunners fail to beat their London rivals, they will miss out on a place in the Champions League for the third season in a row.
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