Clean Sheet but a Mere Draw with Newbie

“As far as the result is concerned, it’s a loss. We wanted to win and make use of the fact that Tottenham had lost points by putting more distance between them and us. That didn’t work out. Middlesborough played well, had pretty good opportunities and definitely deserved the draw. It’s a fair result taking everything into account and I see as positive the fact that our streak without losses continues,” said Petr.

“While it’s sort of a wasteful loss, one point is better than nothing and, who knows, perhaps even this single point will turn out to have been crucial by the end of the season. It might be two points wasted just now – but that one point can mean the world after the finals,” he added.

Petr performed several incredible saves, particularly so in the first half. It was also thanks to him that the score remained at zero. “The match wasn’t easy for me. I wouldn’t get to touch the ball for eighteen minutes and then all of a sudden Middlesborough had a major opportunity. You’ve just got to be ready at any given moment and I’m glad I was able to help the team deal with that difficult situation,” Petr explained.

“I was sure we would punish them in the second half and would be able to use our chances but our game on the last 30 metres was poor compared to our previous games. The final phase felt a bit too rushed. We failed to get in the perfect final pass and sometimes we were just trying too hard,” said Petr.

Manager Arsene Wenger was celebrating his 67th birthday on match day and the team was unable to gift him a victory. “We were looking to win both for us and the fans – not only for our manager. Unfortunately we didn’t manage but we’re on the top of the table and there’s plenty of games till the end of the season. We just need to keep up our work,” stated Petr.

He doesn’t consider Arsenal to have been under less pressure than, for instance, the Manchester clubs or Chelsea and to have been profiting from it. “We’re under the same exact pressure as everyone else. It’s been more than ten years since Arsenal last won the title and everyone’s expecting us to break the curse finally. Last season we ended in the best spot in the previous eight years and we learned from that season. We’ve brought new people onboard since and are benefiting from it. The table is pretty even on top but that’s hardly a surprise, I think. It will be tooth and nails till the very end,” added Petr.