Arsenal sit tied at the summit of the Premier League in many ways thanks to the fine work of goalkeeper Petr Cech who produced a number of superb saves to deny a persistent Middlesbrough side on Saturday at the Emirates and preserve the clean sheet for the Gunners, which enabled them to claim a crucial point. With Manchester City only managing a 1-1 draw with the impressive Southampton on Sunday, Arsenal now sit in a 3-way tie with the Citizens and Liverpool at the top of the table.

Cech joined the Gunners back in the summer of 2015 from rivals Chelsea for a mere £11million and as time goes on that looks like the best value transfer ever made by Arsene Wenger or any manager in recent history. A man who knows Cech well is former Australian international goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, who played for Fulham and Middlesbrough before becoming Cech’s Chelsea team-mate. Speaking on Match of the Day as reported by ESPNFC, Schwarzer had this to say about Cech and his performance against his former club Boro,

“For me, Petr Cech is the best goalkeeper in the Premier League and probably has been for the last few years,”

“I’ve had the privilege to work with him, I class him as a good mate and he’s an incredible professional.

“He stands big and he really kept Arsenal in the match which was quite strange considering nobody gave Middlesbrough a chance.”

After the game, manager Arsene Wenger was in no doubt who had been the most influential player in helping Arsenal get through the game unscathed and he had this to say on the matter,

“They had chances but our goalkeeper saved us today, Petr Cech had a good performance in decisive phases. We tried. You don’t win on command though. We lacked our creative potential around the box. That is part of it.”

So Arsenal move to the top of the table and on a day when they could have lost to a decent side, they managed to knuckle down and grind out what could turn out to be a very valuable point at the end of the season.