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“He deserves trust” – Arsenal boss drops hint Petr Cech will start against Chelsea

By mac14 on May 28, 2019

Unai Emery seems to have dropped a hint that he’ll start Petr Cech in goal against Chelsea in the Europa League final on Wednesday night.

Cech has started in 10 of our last 11 Europa League games after losing his first team shirt to Bernd Leno earlier in the season and Emery stuck with the 37-year-old in the quarters and semi’s against Napoli and Valencia.

The boss was fully expected to stand by Cech for the final but the landscape changed after reports emerged claiming that the Czech legend has agreed to return to former club Chelsea to take up a sporting director role when he retires this summer.

Obviously Arsenal fans are concerned about Cech starting in the huge Europa League final against the club he’s reportedly about to join so supporters have been demanding Emery puts sentiment to one side and starts Leno on Wednesday night.

However, fans could be set for disappointment as Emery has praised Cech for his professionalism and claims he deserves to be trusted if he’s chosen to start tomorrow. Emery dropped a further hint that he’ll give Cech the nod after asking ‘how can we not believe in him?’.

Speaking at his pre match press conference in Baku this afternoon, when asked about starting Cech, Emery is quoted as saying by Football London:

“The first XI for tomorrow, I’m going to see tomorrow. Cech is a great man, a great professional. I want to do something important with him.”

“I respect him a lot. He is amazing, first as a person and a professional goalkeeper.

“He deserves trust in him, his career says to us he is a gentleman. He can start or cannot start, I am going to decide.

“How can we not believe in him?”

This doesn’t sound like a man that’s ready to axe Cech in fear of him ‘throwing’ the game against Chelsea so I wouldn’t be surprised if the retiring stopper starts in goal for Arsenal tomorrow.

Personally, I think it should be an easy decision to start Leno. This is a huge game for Arsenal as we desperately need to win in order to lift our first European trophy in years and secure qualification to the Champions League so you have to start your best players. The fact Cech is set to return to Chelsea is just the icing on the cake for me.