Mikel Arteta is on course to deliver Arsenal their first Premier League title in 21 years, but Petr Cech has doubts about one thing the boss could do in the future.
Arsenal are sitting pretty in the Champions League and the Premier League, seven points clear in England and seven wins from seven in Europe.
It’s where Arsenal fans have dreamt the Gunners would be for years, but now is not the time to celebrate, as Arteta’s job is far from over.
Still, it’s important to give credit where it’s due, as Arsenal’s strengths have been noticed since the season began, with the North Londoners keeping their level intact thanks to Arteta.
While consistency is traceable, one prediction about Arsenal has fizzled out.
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Petr Cech doubts Arsenal will ever break Chelsea’s defensive record
At the start of the season, it was pondered whether Arsenal could break Chelsea’s defensive record of 2004/05.
Considering that the campaign prior, the Arsenal invincibles were born, it was going to take something special for Jose Mourinho to rewrite the headlines, but he did just that.
Chelsea conceded just 15 goals that season, something that worried Joe Cole about Arsenal at the start of the 2025/26 calendar, given the strength the Gunners were showing.
22 games in, and it’s become clear that the record won’t be matched or broken, something Petr Cech thinks will never happen.
Cech was a guest on the Business of Sport podcast, where he spoke about the record with regard to Arsenal.
“You see how impossible it looks sometimes, because for example, this season, after 10 games, Arsenal conceded 2 goals, and everybody was asking, ‘do you think?’ And I said, actually, they are doing so well that they have a chance.
“Now we have 20 games to go, and they are on 14 goals, and then you suddenly realise, now it looks impossible, because you have literally 20 games, they can’t concede to break it.
“So then you just go on, they will not have 18 clean sheets in a row.”
For all of Arsenal’s defensive strength, even William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes would struggle to keep 16 consecutive clean sheets in the Premier League from here to the end of the season.
Mikel Arteta should set his sights on Premier League records
It must be said that perhaps some records just aren’t meant to be broken.
We’ve seen it year after year when even the best Manchester City sides couldn’t go an entire season without being beaten as Arsene Wenger did, and this term, Arsenal won’t even get close to Chelsea’s defensive record.
Which record could you see Mikel Arteta breaking at Arsenal in the future?
For now, Arteta won’t care; he just has to deliver the title in whatever way possible, but in the future, like every coach, he’ll look at the records and want to mark his name.
The Premier League is a different beast from other domestic leagues in world football, with any manager to succeed in the English top flight earning high acclaim.
Whether Arteta could be a record-breaker one day remains to be seen, but as stressed, right now, he just wants a title.
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