Record-breaking Petr Cech

For Petr Cech, nothing matters more than a victory for his team. But even he would have been ecstatic after becoming the most successful goalkeeper in English Premier League’s history, overcoming David James’ tally of 169 clean sheets, with a 2-0 victory over Bournemouth.

Petr Cech of Arsenal celebrates after his team's 2-0 win in the Barclays Premier League match between Arsenal and A.F.C. Bournemouth.

For Petr Cech, nothing matters more than a victory for his team. But even he would have been ecstatic after becoming the most successful goalkeeper in English Premier League’s history, overcoming David James’ tally of 169 clean sheets, with a 2-0 victory over Bournemouth.

“I have to confess that I started thinking about the record,” said Cech after the match, according to The Guardian. “The most important thing was to win the game and once we got the 2-0 lead and it was going towards the end of the game … In the last 10 minutes, I was checking the clock. I was thinking, OK … “

Great win ,clean sheet ,top of the league ... Thanks for all the congratulations... It's an honour for me ! ⚽️169 >pic.twitter.com/lXLP2RkmZX

— Petr Cech (@PetrCech) >December 13, 2015

It was almost 11 years ago that a relatively unknown Petr Cech made his debut for Chelsea under Jose Mourinho and dazzled in a 1-0 victory for the Blues against Manchester United. He kept 162 Premier League clean sheets over 11 seasons at Chelsea and won four Premier League titles with Chelsea (2005, 2006, 2010 and 2015), though he played a secondary role to Belgian Thibaut Courtois in the last season.

But Cech will be eyeing another premiership medal this year, with his current team Arsenal competing at the top of the table with Leicester and Manchester City. Apart from his nightmare debut in the 2-0 loss to West Ham United at the Emirates, Cech has been outstanding this season with 8 clean sheets from 19 matches, averaging around 2.30 saves per game.

There was no shortage of compliments for the shot-stopper, his friends and even former club Chelsea taking to Twitter to congratulate the keeper.

Chelsea FC:

Congratulations to Chelsea legend >@PetrCech on breaking the >@premierleague clean sheet record.

— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) >December 28, 2015

Aaron Ramsey:

That was hard work but a good way to end 2015. Well done >@PetrCech on the clean sheets record! >#AFC>pic.twitter.com/fuWny8cR9z

— Aaron Ramsey (@aaronramsey) >December 28, 2015

David James:

Congratulations >@PetrCech Premier League clean sheet record holder. Plenty more to come! What a guy!

— David James (@jamosfoundation) >December 28, 2015