Arsenal keeper Peter
Cech cemented his place in Premier League history by claiming a record 170th
clean sheet in his side's 2-0 defeat of Bournemouth.
The 33-year-old
finally surpassed former England No 1 David James - who held the previous
record before ending his career with Portsmouth in 2010 - earning the record in
just 352 appearances for both Chelsea and Arsenal.
Another mesmeric
performance from Mesut Ozil, which included an assist for Gabriel's opening
goal and scoring the second himself, ensured the Gunners returned top of the
table and enhance hopes of winning a first title since 2004.
Cech had equalled
James' tally, which took 562 appearances to collect 169 clean sheets, earlier
this month but was denied the record on several occasions - including a late
Yaya Toure goal in the 2-1 defeat of Manchester City - before he eventually
crossed the line against the Cherries.
Speaking about the
record on the club's website, he said: 'When I came over, people started
talking about the clean sheets and the records, and I thought 169 was
impossible.
'I would have to be
here a long time, play every game and you don't get a clean sheet in every
game. The fact that I managed to come to that point is a great achievement.'
The Czech
international, who joined Arsenal this summer after 11 years at Stamford
Bridge, reportedly broke James' record earlier this season but then used
Twitter to clarify that he did not finish the game in four of his clean sheets.
On September 13, he
wrote: ''I have 171 Premier league clean sheets in total but can't count 4
because I didn't play full 90 minutes.'
TOP PREMIER LEAGUE CLEAN SHEETS HOLDERS
1. Petr Cech
170 (352)
2. David James
169 (572)
3. Mark Schwarzer
152 (514)
4. David Seaman
142 (344)
5. Nigel Martyn
138 (372)
6. Pepe Reina
134 (285)
6. Edwin van der Sar
134 (314)
8. Brad Friedel
132 (450)
9. Tim Howard
130 (389)
10. Peter Schmeichel
129 (310)
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