Time to spare some thoughts for the duel between Petr Cech and Thibaut Courtois as not Sunday’s entire heavyweight clash between Chelsea and Arsenal revolves round the overhyped faceoff between two of the best English football teams at the moment- the Premier League champions and the FA Cup holders.
This year’s Community Shield welcomes a rather envisaged twist of fate for Cech international, Cech, who for the first time in 11 years is set to come face-to-face with former team-mates and ex-manager after swapping Stamford Bridge for neighbouring Emirates stadium in a £10m deal at the end of last month.
It was a tough one for the 33-year-old, necessitated by the desire to mount on “new challenges” after playing second fiddle to 23-year-old Courtois at Chelsea in the previous campaign.
Courtois’ arrival from his loan at Atletico Madrid in summer 2014 had left manager Jose Mourinho in dilemma, and in the end choosing between the two best goalkeepers in the league was not an easy task with Cech making just a meager six appearances as Chelsea lifted the English championship last season.
The former LOSC Lille goalkeeper talked about wanting to “finish his career” at the west London club in a letter to Chelsea fans after signing a four-year deal with Arsenal, but that was never meant to be. ArseneWenger finally landed a world class goalkeeper after it all
But when it all comes down to individual performances from Cech’s last full season at Chelsea compared with Courtois’ first season at the Bridge, there are seven key performance-related areas analysed. Guess what? Cech led for five of them.
Clean Sheets
In 34 Premier League appearances during the 2013-14 season, Cech kept a total of 16 clean sheets (an impressive clean sheet rate of 47.1%). In comparison, Courtois managed 12 from his 32 appearances in his debut campaign (at the rate of 38%).
Ironically, former Arsenal first-choice, Wojchiech Szczesny, was jointly awarded the Premier League Golden Gloves along with Cech two seasons ago after posting the same numbers of clean sheets as the former. However, Wenger have decided to farm out the Poland international to Italian club As Roma on a season-long loan.
Minutes per Goal Conceded
Cech conceded a total of 42 league goals in the 2013-14 campaign, representing one goal in every 128 minutes. Having conceded 30 goals in 32 matches last season, Courtois must have picked the ball from inside of his net every 94 minutes.
There could be some reprieve for the Chelsea first-choice, as Mourinho’s team were suited to a defensive cog in umpteenth fixtures on his second coming, with the likes of David Luiz, John Terry and Garry Cahill and in the latter part of the campaign Nemanja Matic in hand to shield Courtois’ predecessor.
But employing an offensive setup for most part of the previous campaign, oppositions were probably afforded much space to manipulate Chelsea’s defense, with Matic and Player of the Season Eden Hazard leading the onslaught rather than holding up play.
Saves and Catches (per goal; per game)
Saves and Catches (per goal; per game)
Cech made more saves per goal than Courtois in his last full season with Chelsea (2.3- 2.1) but the Belgian dominated in aerial duels and saves per game, with more saves per game (1.9- 1.5) and, unsurprisingly, more catches per game (3.2- 1.9).
Defensive Errors
The former Atleti shot stopper was more prone to gaffs with a total of 4 defensive errors last season, compared to the 2 from Cech’s previous campaign.
However, 2014-15 was only Courtois’ first season in the volatile English Premier League so you would expect the 23-year-old to up the antics against those predatory attackers this term.
Distribution Accuracy
Cech was also more successful when it comes to distribution accuracy, narrowly edging Courtois 60% to 57%.
Does these numbers add up or just fallacies? Mourinho believes Arsenal have signed a player good enough to help them win the Premier League title again or is that mere mind games?
Who will be biting their nails come May 2016 and has Arsenal truly boosted their title credentials?
(Stats provided by Opta-powered fantasy game, Oulala.com)
