Cech gets Emery's backing ahead of Chelsea clash
Arsenal's veteran goalkeeper Petr Cech will start the English Premier League clash against his former club Chelsea on Sunday morning (Singapore time) despite criticism of his performance in last weekend's defeat by Manchester City, manager Unai Emery said yesterday.
Cech struggled with Emery's tactics, which involve playing out from the back, in the 2-0 loss to the defending champions.
The 36-year-old was criticised by some supporters who called for new signing Bernd Leno to take his place.
"I'm very happy with his performance. He has experience, he has quality, he has the capacity," Emery said.
"For Saturday, the decision is easy. Petr can continue to start, I believe in him. But if Bernd starts, I believe in him also... they are two goalkeepers who are important for us."
Emery suggested that he would persist with his style despite being outplayed by City and sought a strong response from his players.
"We need to keep our personality, our mentality. Against City, the team kept their ideas, kept their spirit in the game for the full 90 minutes even when we were losing," Emery added.
Stephan Lichtsteiner or Nacho Monreal will fill in for Ainsley Maitland-Niles, who is out until October after suffering a leg fracture against City.
Regular left-back Sead Kolasinac is also out for a similar period with a knee injury.
Meanwhile, Germany midfielder Toni Kroos has criticised former World Cup-winning teammate Mesut Oezil for the way he announced his international retirement over racism claims and said the Arsenal player spoke "nonsense".
Oezil, 29, announced his international retirement last month after Germany crashed out of the World Cup group stage in Russia. He said he had faced "racism and disrespect" because of his Turkish roots.
Kroos told Bild newspaper in an interview published yesterday that Oezil deserved a better departure, but "parts in his statement that are rightly addressed are unfortunately overshadowed by the significantly higher amount of nonsense".
Kroos claimed: "I think he knows very well that racism within the national team and the DFB does not exist." - REUTERS
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