Petr Cech has insisted he only joined Arsenal from Chelsea in the summer because he believed they were capable of winning the Premier League.
The 33-year-old, who broke David James' record for most clean sheets in the division, left the Blues for the Gunners in the summer after 10 trophy-laden years at Stamford Bridge.
Cech kept his 170th clean sheet in just his 352nd game against Bournemouth on Monday, taking 220 fewer games than James managed to reach the milestone.
His rate of keeping a clean sheet in almost every other game (48 per cent of matches) is also better than any goalkeeper to have kept more than 100 clean sheets.
The Czech Republic captain, who will lead his nation at Euro 2016 next summer, says he only joined the north London club because they have a chance at winning.
"It was not an easy decision but I always wanted to go to a team which could win," he told the Daily Mirror.
"If I didn’t believe that I was going to a team which could win then I don’t know why I would come.
"I play football, not to only enjoy it and I love the challenge of playing and competing with the best players, but I want to have the chance to win games.
"I believe this team has the qualities to win games and hopefully we will manage to go all the way in the league. It’s a very difficult and long run but I believe this team has the capabilities of doing it.
"We are in a good position, we are in the mix of the teams who will play to win the title so we want to stay in that position for as long as possible and every time we have a chance to improve our position then we would love to do it.
"The league is very interesting this year because the table keeps changing every other week.
"But as long as we are there in March and are in a position where we can win the league then it’s fine as it will only depend on us."
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments