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WATCH: This season has exposed a near post weakness for Petr Cech

Judging from the noises emanating from the manager and players at Arsenal, Petr Cech has been a p...



WATCH: This season has exposed...
Soccer

WATCH: This season has exposed a near post weakness for Petr Cech

Judging from the noises emanating from the manager and players at Arsenal, Petr Cech has been a positive experienced voice in the dressing room.

The goalkeeper who moved from arch rivals Chelsea in the summer to the other side of London, has been described by Arsene Wenger as someone who has "an aura, a charisma that is always important in the big games for the players".

But this Premier League season has thrown up a chink in Cech's armour. While he has made some outstanding saves across the Premier League season including a memorable point-blank block on Liverpool's Christian Benteke early in a barely deserved goalless draw in late August.

But before that, West Ham had stung the Gunners at the Emirates on the opening day and Cech was infamously culpable for both goals in the 2-0 reverse.

One was a mistake when coming off his line but the more worrying start of the trend was when Mauro Zarate beat him at his near post from range.

Unfortunately for Cech that type of goal has not been a one-off in 2015-16. It was very similar to the goal scored by Crystal Palace's Yannick Bolasie fired from a similar area and finding the same spot in the back of the net at the near post.

The defending on both of those goals was slightly suspect as space opened up for the shots to be taken. But you would expect Cech to get down to them and push those efforts round the post rather than allowing them to sneak inside the post.

In Arsenal's most recent match against Manchester City, the Czech Republic legend was twice caught out by low snapshots that were aimed at the near post, with Sergio Aguero and Kevin De Bruyne profiting.

The Aguero one was precise and fired at pace, thus one can debate that one but De Bruyne's squeezed into that small space between Cech's diving zone and the near post. 

In contrast, when he spreads himself to make a save towards his far post, he has tended to manage that with often spectacular consequences.

The shots faced have been fired quickly which suggests an error positionally and slight slowness in getting down to the trajectory of the ball.

Age is unlikely to be a factor as Cech is 33 which is by no means over-the-hill or anything close in goalkeeper terms.

But the near post issue is a slight concern if it is something that won't be remedied.

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