Meet the new boss, same as the old boss?
Well, not exactly, but Unai Emery is having about as much luck getting the better of Pep Guardiola’s Man City as Arsene Wenger did last season.
In the first-half of Arsenal’s Premier League opener against the champions, Emery showed us all just how hard his job will be this season, despite making a host of new signings combined with a certain lack of expectations from the Emirates crowd.
Welcome to Emirates Stadium, @UnaiEmery_ 
#ARSMCI pic.twitter.com/pHdaW2eLfy
— Arsenal FC (@Arsenal) August 12, 2018
One of those signings was new goalkeeper Bernd Leno, who started the game on the bench as Petr Cech took his regular place in goal, much to the annoyance of Arsenal fans.
Still, to be fair, there wasn’t much he could do about City’s opener, with Raheem Sterling curling home through a gap in the Arsenal back-line early on.
But he was definitely at fault moments later, when he somehow nearly passed the ball into the corner of his own net, believe it or not.
On the 21st minute, with Arsenal attempting (and failing) to play out from the back (in an almost cringe-worthy imitation of City’s effortless style), the veteran shot-stopped seemed overwhelmed when new boy Matteo Guendouzi passed back to him from a goal-kick.
In a moment of panic, or perhaps just a lapse of concentration, the former Chelsea man then miss-hit his short pass to his opposite full-back and was left helpless as the ball teased his goal post as it went out for a corner.
Cech passes the ball short to his full-back
New signing Guendouzi comes under pressure when he receives the ball
He passes back to his goalkeeper, who’s under some pressure from Sergio Aguero
Attempting to pass first-time, he scuffs the ball and it sails back towards the goal
Luckily, it goes clear of the goal-post by a matter of inches
Heart in mouth moment, right?
It’s fair to say that, at the age of 36, Cech is unlikely to suddenly turn into the type of stylish, ball-playing goalkeeper that’s all the rage at the moment.
But seriously, imagine the memes if that had gone in?
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