Arsenal goalkeeper Bernd Leno has said that he feels sorry for Petr Cech who suffered a hamstring injury in yesterday’s match against Watford. During the stoppage time before the break, Cech went to take a goal-kick and suffered the injury. He was taken off immediately and Leno replaced him, thus making his first Premire League appearance for Arsenal.
Leno managed to keep a clean sheet during the second half as Arsenal won 2-0. An own-goal from Craig Cathcart and a goal from Mesut Ozil helped the Gunners register their 5th consecutive league win. Both goals came within two minutes during the last 10 minutes of play. The win puts Arsenal in 5th place on the table. They are at level with Tottenham Hotspur on points.
Cech’s injury could keep him on the sidelines for a few weeks. This means that Leno will receive a few starts for Arsenal. However, the Germany international expressed his sympathy for the 36-year old.
He said, “It was a difficult start. As a goalkeeper you don’t think you will come in and Petr Cech gets injured. I feel sorry for him. I hope it’s not too bad. The two games in the Europa League and Carabao Cup were important for me to get a feel of my defence so it wasn’t too difficult for me.
The big strikers are very good and very strong so we had many problems but our defence did a good job. I think we have to improve. We need time but we tried to play football from behind and we have to concentrate as not everything was perfect. “It was a good game but not perfect so we have to watch it again and see where we can improve.”
Arsenal next play a Europa League fixture against Azerbaijan club Qarabag on Thursday. Their next Premier League fixture is against Fulham on Sunday. Fulham are currently 16th in the table and haven’t won a Premier League match since August.
