Arsenal Vs Blackpool: Unai Emery makes Petr Cech statement

Petr Cech will start for Arsenal in Wednesday night’s fourth-round EFL Cup contest with Blackpool. Unai Emery is making a statement with his goalkeepers.

On Wednesday night, Arsenal will continue their Carabao Cup endeavours, hosting Blackpool with the intention of qualifying for the quarter-finals and the latter stages of the competition, while also providing some rest for those who are more likely to feature prominently in the league.

Catch the latest episode of the Pain in the Arsenal podcast right here

It is normal for managers to rotate quite heavily. And Unai Emery has done so thus far in the competition. That leaves for some interesting decisions to be made and some hints at the value that Emery places on certain players.

More from Pain in the Arsenal

In the lead up to this fixture, the main point of contention has been the goalkeeper position. Bernd Leno has started in the league with Petr Cech dealing with a calf injury. When Leno first arrived in the summer, it was assumed that he would be the starter. That has not been the case, with Emery turning to Cech’s greater experience and understanding of the Premier League.

But Leno is the future of the position, until he proves otherwise, at least. Therefore, he needs to be playing, to learn, to make mistakes, to improve, to prepare himself for his career, not just the present. And he has been playing well in Cech’s absence in recent weeks.

So who will Emery choose for this match, which would strongly indicate who the starter for the remainder of the year might be? Well, he gave us his answer in his pre-match press conference:

"“In each moment for each match, we are going to give the goalkeepers the opportunity to help us. We are looking for the confidence in each goalkeeper. But now at the moment, Cech will start the Blackpool match after coming back from his injury.”"

Emery, I am sure, is aware of the statement that he is making. I am also sure that he will say that he is playing Cech to help him re-acclimatise after being sat on the sidelines since September thanks to a hamstring injury. And there may well be an element of truth in that: it will be confirmed when Arsenal play Liverpool on Saturday.

But, for now, it is reasonable to assume that Leno, at the very least, has made up ground on Cech in the pecking order. And he may very well have overtaken him. Emery is certainly debating what to do with his goalkeepers.

Cech starting on Wednesday night is a statement. It is a statement of confidence for Leno; a warning for Cech. It remains to be seen who will be the long-term starter this season, but, for now, one thing is clear: both will be on the very tips of their toes.