Petr Cech to Arsenal: Goalkeeper's debut likely to be in Community Shield against Chelsea

Cech is on the verge of sealing a move to Premier League rivals Arsenal, who face Chelsea in the annual curtain-raiser at Wembley

Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech (Getty Images)

Reports emerged on Monday evening that Petr Cech had completed his move to Arsenal, and while the Chelsea goalkeeper quickly took to Twitter to rubbish that suggestion, his move across London appears to be edging towards completion.

The prospect of Cech wearing an Arsenal shirt will be a difficult one to imagine following his 11 years of loyal service at Stamford Bridge, but that prospect will become a very real one sooner than most Blues supporters will think – on Sunday 2 August to be precise.

Their fears are likely to materialise on that date when Cech, should his deal go through as expected, makes his competitive Arsenal debut in the Community Shield against Chelsea.

The Premier League champions take on the FA Cup winners – and in this case, the defending Community Shield champions – at Wembley Stadium in the traditional curtain-raiser to the English domestic season.

Arsenal triumphed on their return to the Community Shield last season when they somewhat surprisingly beat Manchester City 3-0, though Manuel Pellegrini’s side were missing a lot more of their first-team regulars that the Gunners.

This season though, with no World Cup to drain the players, the majority of the two squads should be at full strength providing their Copa America representatives recover in time for the August clash. With Chelsea’s Brazilian contingent of Oscar, Willian and Filipe Luis starring for the Selecao, Juan Cuadrado joined by Arsenal’s David Ospina in representing Colombia and Alexis Sanchez starring for Chile, the South Americans should be afforded a short holiday before returning to pre-season action later in the summer.