25 December 2023 , 22:45
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Three years ago when Mikel Arteta was seeing his Arsenal future questioned it was Petr Cech who came out fighting for the Spaniard.
Arteta had only been in his post at the Emirates for a year, but amid increasing concern from fans about patchy Premier League form which had seen them lose eight and draw two of their previous 12 games, as well as lose 4-1 to Manchester City in the League Cup, it was the ex-Gunners goalkeeper who spoke out.
Cech told talkSPORT: "It's hard for any manager when results don't go your way and then you try to change the way the team play or the philosophy of the football.
"When you start to change a little bit it needs time. As well to implement that faster you have to have everybody believe in it, you need some results as well."
Cech - who won the FA Cup with Arsenal in 2017 after a stellar career which Chelsea which included four Premier League titles, four FA Cups and the 2012 Champions League - added that he believed confidence played a big role in performance and urged everyone at Arsenal to pull together during what was a challenging time.
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Arteta has proven to be a hit at Arsenal (Hollandse Hoogte/REX/Shutterstock)"This is the hardest part in football because it's easy to suddenly say this is not working and do something else but you can't do that all the time," he continued.
"But of course in modern football it's the results that count and at the end of the day you need to find your balance to have success and the way you do it."
Three years on from his plea to give Arteta more time it is fair to say that Cech has been proven right. Things haven't been completely plain sailing for Arsenal under their manager, and indeed they finished eighth in the season Cech spoke, but they have certainly improved and look set to sustain their second title challenge in successive seasons.
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