I couldn’t say no or yes because we were waiting for a

“I couldn’t say no, or yes, because we were waiting for a work permit and it didn’t come,” Cech says with a smile.He pauses, before adding: “Maybe because David Seaman, a great goalkeeper, was playing it would have been more difficult to be No 1 at Arsenal Maybe I was too young then. “At that time, I was 19 years old, so I wasn’t in a [senior] international team, and the Czech Republic weren’t in the European Union then, so I couldn’t gain a work permit. It’s fantastic for me to be in a squad which is 11 points ahead, with only 13 games to go.”And, it must be added, no fewer than 13 points healthier than Arsenal, whose manager, Ars? Wenger, attempted to sign Cech, not once but twice, when he was at Sparta Prague. “In the beginning, it was difficult for us, but straight away we showed team spirit and a strong dressing-room and started playing well. Maybe one of the keys was the [opening] game against Manchester United. After that, we knew that even if players are new we could beat United, so we could compete with everyone.”He adds: “We started winning games, and we just kept winning. The next important [moment] was after we lost at Manchester City.

People said it would turn everything for us, and we would start to drop points, but we reacted very well [defeating Blackburn 4-0] Since then, we have not lost [in the League]. A ninth blank sheet against Manchester City today at Stamford Bridge would make a major contribution to that, although the fact that Kevin Keegan’s men are the only team to have overturned the Premiership leaders this season – by dint of the now-departed Nicolas Anelka’s penalty – offers the visitors a hint of expectation.That match in mid-October, according to Cech, was one of the two significant moments in Chelsea’s season, one which began with a new manager, new centre-back (Ricardo Carvalho), new full-back (Paolo Ferreira) and himself, a new goalkeeper. “When we lose the ball, everybody is trying to win it back.”As we talk, Roman Abramovich is apparently on the premises. Men wearing earpieces hover by a black Mercedes, positioned to transport the Chelsea owner to his next appointment.

However, even the Russian would concede that just now the most important security guard on his payroll is a tracksuited 6ft 5in, 22-year-old, who has been unbeaten in eight successive Premiership games.Another personal target is already in sight for Cech: his own record of 903 minutes without conceding a goal during his time at Sparta Prague. “The important thing is that it is never just about four defenders and one goalkeeper We are playing defensively well as a team,” Cech insists. Certainly, he possesses precious little of Schmeichel’s tendency for eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation with his own defenders “Everybody is different,” Cech says dismissively “You have to have a feeling for the players in front of you. Sometimes if you believe someone is unlucky and he doesn’t feel very good, there is no reason to scream. “But I feel that as I am only 22, I can still improve if I keep working at my game and benefit from the experience I am getting from playing in England and international games. It depends on the situation.”The truth is that, where Chelsea are concerned, there is such cohesion within the rearguard that Cech rarely has cause to castigate them anyway. Eight League goals conceded all season is testimony to that fact.

I feel I can be better in a few years.”If the diffident Cech has a fault, it is the absence of a commanding voice in the penalty area. “Peter Schmeichel is one of the greatest, one of the best goalkeepers ever in football. When I was young, he was one of my model players.”As a boy, I watched everybody and I always tried to take the best from each goalkeeper in the world. At the time, there was Schmeichel, [Edwin] Van der Sar when he started playing for Ajax and Juventus, and Gianluigi Buffon.”After only a little more than half a season at the Bridge, performances of distinction for the Czech Republic in Euro 2004 (when five clean sheets helped his country to a semi-final place), two seasons at the French club Rennes, and those early years at Sparta Prague, Cech has already demonstrated a right to be included among that illustrious group.”I don’t think I’m the best yet,” he says.

“Of course we can be beaten, but our mentality is really strong. Other teams all know it’s going to be difficult to go through our defence. They also know it’s going to be hard to defend well against us because of the great players in our attack, who can turn games.”Cech has a specific explanation for his elation that night; the fact that he had overtaken the record of a goalkeeper of iconic status, a man he grew up determined to emulate “Of course I’m proud,” he says. That was why we celebrated like that afterwards.”However, he emphasises that such a response does not suggest that Chelsea believe the championship is their property yet. “We know what we are playing for, and we know we are still a long way away from the title,” he says. Blackburn had a great physical presence, but we showed that we can fight, that we can play football, and that it’s really difficult to beat us. We managed the pressure from the [Arsenal-United] game on Tuesday and we won.