Petr Cech and Shkodran Mustafi have both been giving their thoughts following victory over Sunderland on Tuesday evening.
Hosting the side at the Emirates Stadium for the game, an Alexis Sanchez brace gave us the two nil victory nd all three points and the game was our fourth straight win in the league now as we look to book our Champions League place for next term.
Beginning with goalkeeper Cech, he told the Official Site in his own post game press conference that it was simply a case of getting the job done.
‘Yes, they made it very difficult for us and in the first half we actually started okay but it was too slow for them. They were organised to get in their positions and to get back behind the ball before the opportunities and obviously our chances were not happening. We couldn`t find the opening goal and as long as it was 0-0 they had their chance for a good result. Like every Premier League team, no matter if you are already relegated or not, you play for your fans for the pride and they did that.’
With Nacho’s backpass causing a flutter as the second half began, Cech scrambling across goal to keep it out and conceding an indirect freekick in the six yard box in the process, he explained.
‘Well it`s a mis-kick because obviously he wanted to pass it a completely different way. I was not sure whether it goes in or wide if I didn`t touch it because you don`t want to take any chances so I touched it and helped it a little bit wide, which I thought was going to be a corner because I didn`t catch the ball and I didn`t win a backpass. I don`t know, a lot of things can happen! I thought it was mis-kick and it would`ve been a corner, in the end the referee decided for a backpass which he has the right to do. The situation became a bit confusing because it is very hard, you have it on the goal-line so where do you put the players. I know the rule in this way says you need to be 10 yards or on the goal-line and everybody was everywhere so I think it was kind of a strange situation and I have to say we dealt with it well and that is the main important thing.’
With empty seats being a talking point, he was also asked about the atmosphere in the ground.
‘Well, I think the game was postponed, so for example I had 15 tickets where the people couldn`t turn up because they obviously bought the flights for the other game which was due to be at the weekend.’
Asked whether his tickets were for the second tier.
‘Yes, I think it`s due to you not only have people coming from London. People are working and people are committed to it and obviously when they buy the ticket the game gets postponed, sometimes it`s hard for them to turn up and I think this is always when you have postponed the game, not everybody can turn up. I think that was the case, but the people who came up, they tried to create the atmosphere and as a player, obviously you don`t look what`s in the stands. You are there to win and need to win and it was a crucial game for us. We needed to give ourselves a chance and we gave ourselves a chance.’
With the final day of the campaign soon to be with us now.
‘Well, everything is possible but we have a difficult game ourselves. Obviously they are a team who fights for the Europa League, obviously, so we try to get as many points and even if they can`t reach it, they will come here and they will try to finish the last game of their season. So it`s always important for everybody but as I said, we gave ourselves another chance. If we win our game, we do our job then we can sit and wait.’
As for Mustafi, in his own post game interviews he spoke about the ‘focus and concentration’ of the players across the 90 minutes and with four straight wins he was also delighted with a fourth clean sheet in a row on home soil.
‘We knew we had to win the game, it`s at home and we have been in a good run lately and we wanted to keep that going. It wasn`t easy, even though Sunderland knew they were already going down but you have to play those games. It isn`t easy when you play every three days, you get tired as well. We had a lot of opportunities and we made it a bit harder than it was, but we got the important three points.’
Asked about patience.
‘It was, but it was also about concentration because when you have a lot of opportunities you might concede a goal and then it is even harder. So it was important to be patient and also concentrate as well, and be organised and continue to create opportunities to score.’
And Everton on the final day.
‘That`s why we are playing, if we knew it wasn`t possible to get top four we wouldn`t be playing but we know everything is possible and we have to go to the end and see what happens.’
