Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech has defended himself against those who say he can’t pass the ball out from the back.

The 36-year-old gave away a pass to Harry Arter in the early stages of the 3-2 win over Cardiff City last time out, but the Irish international failed to capitalise on the mistake. There were also one or two other occasions where the Czech international looked less than assured with the ball at this feet.

However, the keeper says his critics omit the fact that he is now making many more passes under new manager Unai Emery:

“I had 166 passes in the first four games which is a huge amount and everybody picked up on only two.”

“It’s obviously not a great thing to do when you pass the ball in a dangerous area like I did at Cardiff when I gave it to Harry Arter but it’s part of the game that you can always make a mistake.”

Cech is under more pressure as summer signing Bernd Leno has yet to feature despite the Gunners having shelled out £22.5m on the German shot-stopper.

Emery has continued to keep faith with the veteran in goal despite the difficulties he has had with adapting to the demands of the Spaniard, who wants his teams to pass out from the back at every possible opportunity.