Petr Cech positive about overcoming Rennes in the Europa League

Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech has said that the Gunners are capable of making a comeback despite suffering a 3-1 defeat to Rennes during the away leg of the Europa League round of 16. The north London giants benefited from a fortuitous Alex Iwobi goal in the opening three minutes and they could have quite easily doubled the advantage with the chances thereafter.

However, in a moment of madness, Sokratis saw himself sent out for a second yellow card and this changed the tide with Rennes scoring from a free-kick before the break. Following the interval, Rennes were the better side with the man advantage and they managed to make it count with a Nacho Monreal own goal and a late Ismaila Sarr strike to secure a comfortable triumph in the end.

Speaking after the game, Cech acknowledged that the result was disappointing, given they had conceded a third goal with minutes left on the clock. He added that the team have previously recovered from a 2-0 deficit before and things can be turned around when the French club make the Emirates trip next week.

“He said: “I think the biggest disappointment is the third goal, because at 2-1, you go home“ and you know that there’s a result where you’ve scored away at home and you can overcome it. The turning point was the red card because they managed to score from the resulting free-kick. When we went down to 10 men in the first half, it became a lot more difficult. Of course. At home we can win. We created some chances today as well so we have to be positive. We’ve done it in the past where we’ve been 2-0 down and have overcome the deficit. One positive is that we can give it a “go in the week“ to overcome it.”

Arsenal were no doubt the team with the ascendancy at full strength and they can take positives from the fact that Rennes managed just one goal from open play despite playing the entire second half with the man advantage. Arsenal return to Premier League action this weekend with a home game against Manchester United.