Arsene Wenger says Petr Cech’s pride has been hurt by Arsenal’s seven-game run without a clean sheet.

The veteran Czech has conceded at least one goal in each of his last seven Premier League matches – a run that stretches back to the scoreless draw with Middlesbrough in mid-October – and has never gone eight matches without a clean sheet.

With only four clean sheets in total after 16 games, Cech and his defence are going to have to up their game in the second half of the season if he’s to secure the fifth Golden Glove award of his career.

“Yes, of course [that hurts his pride] and I think that at the moment that’s where we can improve and that’s what we want to focus on,” Wenger told Arsenal.com ahead of Sunday’s trip to Manchester City. “We have to keep more clean sheets than we do at the moment.

“But Petr has done extremely well. In a team like ours you have one or two saves to make in every game, and that means he has needed talent, of course, but as well focus and concentration to do that, to stay in the game when it looks like you will not be involved a lot. He has, in every single game, made one or two decisive saves.”

The boss also took a moment to touch on the importance of Cech’s experience and how he’s able to ensure his teammates don’t lose perspective after a poor result.

“His experience helps because he has seen that [disappointment] before,” added Wenger.

“Experienced players [like Petr] can adjust the level of disappointment and provoke as well the response that you want, without the players forgetting how good they are.”

Cech’s seven-game run without a clean sheet

vs Sunderland (a)- Defoe penalty

vs Sp*rs (h) – Kane penalty

vs Man Utd (a) – Mata

vs Bournemouth (h) – Wilson penalty

vs West Ham (a) – Carroll (headed rebound after Payet free-kick off the bar)

vs Stoke (h) – Adam penalty

vs Everton (a) – Coleman header / Williams header

…it’s fair to say that the pens against Sp*rs, Bournemouth and Stoke were contentious, but when you give away that many it does start to look careless.

Robert Snodgrass also scored a penalty for Hull at the KC Stadium.

Arsenal have conceded five penalties now this season, more than in the previous two campaigns put together — Orbinho (@Orbinho) December 10, 2016

The weirdest thing is that Cech hasn’t dived the right way for a single one of them.