Unai Emery insists he retains belief in Petr Cech despite the Arsenal goalkeeper coming in for criticism following his performance against Manchester City.
The 36-year-old appeared to struggle with Emery’s new approach of playing the ball out from defence, almost scoring an own goal in the 2-0 defeat as he looked uncomfortable in possession.
Cech, who hit out at Twitter criticism from Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen after they mocked his performance with a series of tweets, looks set to keep the backing of Emery ahead of Saturday’s trip to his former club Chelsea.
“I am very happy with his performance,” he said.
“He has experience, he has quality, he has the capacity. Also, with Bernd Leno – they are two goalkeepers who are important for us.
“For Saturday, the decision for me is easy. Petr Cech can continue to start the match, I believe in him. But if (in future) Bernd starts, I believe in him also.”
Meanwhile, midfielder Ainsley Maitland-Niles has suffered a “small fracture” to his left leg and will be out for six to eight weeks, Arsenal have announced.
Maitland-Niles had been expected to a regular in the first-team squad this season following a promising previous campaign.
However, after suffering the injury during the first half of the opening Premier League match against Manchester City, Maitland-Niles could now be set for up to two months of rehabilitation.
The 20-year-old suffered the injury in a challenge with Kyle Walker and despite trying to play on, he was eventually substituted for Stephan Lichtsteiner after 35 minutes.
Arsenal lost 2-0 against champions City in new head coach Unai Emery’s first league game in charge.
The Gunners head to Chelsea on Saturday, and provided an injury update on Thursday morning, ahead of Emery’s scheduled press conference.
“Ainsley has sustained a small fracture to his left fibula and will be out for six to eight weeks,” Arsenal said on the club’s official website.
There was, though, also positive news as Arsenal reported left-back Nacho Monreal and Danny Welbeck were both in full training”, so should come into contention for the trip to Stamford Bridge.
Defender Carl Jenkinson is, however, also expected to be out for six to eight weeks after he “sustained a significant sprain to his right ankle”, Arsenal confirmed, which is likely to mean the player will not be leaving on loan to a Championship club.
Sead Kolasinac should return to training from his knee problem in October, while club captain Laurent Koscielny continues his recovery from Achilles surgery.