Petr Cech at Arsenal: Has the new goalkeeper made a difference?

We look at Petr Cech’s impact at his new club with the help of former Arsenal goalkeeping hero David Seaman...

"He will save them 12 to 15 points a season." John Terry's opinion isn't the first that Arsenal supporters would seek out but his summer verdict on what Petr Cech could bring to the club would have had them excited nevertheless.

Arsene Wenger addressed his perceived goalkeeping weakness in the summer

Last season David Ospina had provided a solution of sorts, albeit struggling in Arsenal's costly Champions League defeat to Monaco, while Arsene Wenger appeared to finally run out of patience with Wojciech Szczesny. But Cech was seen as a level apart.

This was Arsenal addressing a weakness. According to Opta, Szczesny made six errors leading to shots last season - costing his team the game at Southampton. Only QPR's Robert Green made more and he played more than twice as many games as the Pole.

Significantly, Szczesny and Ospina's combined tally of four errors leading to goals was more than any of Arsenal's rivals among the Premier League's top eight. Goalkeeping mistakes were holding them back. 

Cech was supposed to change that. A goalkeeper of vast experience, the stats showed that his safe hands had been blameless in all seven of his Premier League games for Chelsea the previous season and his reputation for reliability dated back rather further than that.

As a result, schadenfreude salesmen made a killing when Cech erred on his debut against West Ham. Such is the nature of the job, only time will allow the new goalkeeper to make up for that opening-day mistake.

Cech had been bought to eliminate the errors and he'd failed at the very first attempt. Confidence would've been hit and that's a problem for someone in a leadership role who is expected to inspire others. But the goalkeeper's response has been impressive.

It's not just Cech's saves that can help Arsenal but the confidence he gives others

They say reputations take a lifetime to build but only a split-second (spent failing to claim a routine cross) to destroy, but it seems that Cech has been unaffected. "Mistakes will happen," said Per Mertesacker. "But my feeling is he comes back even stronger."

Retaining that aura was key. And even after such an alarming start, Hector Bellerin was clearly in deferential mood. "We are learning a lot from him," said the young full-back soon afterwards. "When you look back and see Petr in goal it gives you a lot of confidence."

Confidence. That great intangible. Stats tell part of the tale. For instance, teams are missing more big chances against Arsenal this year and Cech boasts a better save percentage from close-range shots than his rivals. But they don't reveal how his presence affects others.

Cech's experience is something that helps team-mates such as Per Mertesacker

The man that Cech might have replaced at the club if Wenger could have secured a work permit in 2002 feels the belief that the 33-year-old instils cannot be overstated. "I think he's brilliant," David Seaman, a veteran of 564 appearances for Arsenal, told Sky Sports.

"He's quality and he commands respect. He's exactly what Arsenal needed - a steady, confident player at the back. He's consistent rather than up and down. Szczesny would make great saves but he'd also make rash decisions which would put the back-four on edge.

"He will give the defence more confidence because they're not always on edge wondering what's going on behind them. It's the stature of the man. When a player like that comes in, the squad raise their game in training to show what they can do."

Cech saves a shot from Christian Benteke in a home game against Liverpool

Arsenal fans want to see that in matches too - starting with Sunday's game against Manchester United. Visiting' goalkeeper David de Gea was the game's decisive figure in this fixture last season pulling off a string of saves as United won 2-1 at the Emirates.

Ten months on and the gulf between the two teams' goalkeepers has been closed on paper. On the pitch, perhaps this is the moment that Petr Cech shows his new supporters that he can make a tangible difference this season too.