Arsenal’s Winning Formula Does Not Include Petr Cech
By Josh Sippie
Arsenal have latched onto a pretty impressive streak and it has not involved Petr Cech. Should the stopper be a guarantee to start when he returns?
On the surface, what I am about to say about Arsenal is going to be incredibly unpopular and I am sure plenty of people will have a few choice words. If I’m lucky, some of those words will be left in the comments section, where I will be reminded of how how unpopular this opinion is. But here it goes.
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Arsenal is a team that is all about momentum and sticking to the winning formula. Arsene Wenger has displayed to a fault that when things are going right, he will absolutely not make changes, no matter the cost. Alex Iwobi should consider himself blessed because he snuck into that winning formula and this learning experience is going to help him immensely.
Olivier Giroud is not so lucky. He may not start again for the rest of the year.
But one person that is in a bit of a peculiar place in this ‘winning formula’ situation is Petr Cech. The Czech stopper has saved Arsenal countless points this year, but since his injury, Arsenal have latched onto a new streak and he was not a part of it. So the big question is, will Wenger swap his keepers mid-streak?
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Believe it or not, there is a lot in David Ospina’s favor in this argument. For starters, Ospina was the keeper that saw out the impressive close to Arsenal’s 2014/15 season. He rose to the top of the world charts in saves per goal, where he remained in the top five for the duration of the year (he finished with a 3.18).
I’m not here to make a dumb claim like Ospina is better than Cech, but in the current scenario, I would not swap the two. For starters, when looking at the numbers, Ospina has a leg or two to stand on. Cech has a 2.68 saves per goal ratio this year and has surrendered 1.00 goals per appearance. Ospina has never in his time at Arsenal surrendered 1.00 goals per game on average.
In terms of what he has been able to do in the three matches that he has played since taking over for Cech in the Premier League, Ospina is averaging six saves per goal. Six.
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Now I get it, it’s only 270 minutes worth of play. But he made nine saves against Tottenham alone and went on to shut out Everton and Watford. Speaking of momentum, Ospina has it. And we all know how good the Colombian can look when he is clicking in between the posts.
Cech was back and healthy for the Watford match, but Wenger left him on the bench. Many have pointed to that as a sign that Cech isn’t fully healthy, but I like to believe that Wenger was showing a little faith in Ospina, who has earned it, yet again.
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It will be interesting to see what the plan is going forward. Until then, I want to hear your thoughts. Is it painfully obvious that Cech should be in goal or do we let Ospina ride the wave of momentum? Leave a comment.