LONDON -- Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has said goalkeeper Petr Cech is "fitter than ever" and believes he can emulate Edwin van der Sar by playing until he is 40.

Cech has been in fine form in recent Premier League games, keeping clean sheets in Arsenal's last two wins over Tottenham and Burnley.

Wenger said the 35-year-old had shed "two or three kilos" in order to stay at his best and added: "He gets older, and I think he's fitter than ever.

"He puts a lot of attention on the preparation. He's slimmer than before, and I think he benefits from that.

"He has lost some weight. Not too much, two or three kilos only. But it's a lot, if you want to make a horse lose a race, you put a jockey with one or two kilos more on the back. And a horse is quite big."

Cech has kept a firm grip on Arsenal's No. 1 spot ahead of David Ospina since joining in 2015 and won the Premier League's Golden Glove award in his first season at the club.

He retired from international football with Czech Republic last year in order to prolong his club career, and Wenger said: "Petr Cech is a perfectionist, and you do not make the career he has made if you don't have that obsession always to be at your best."

Cech has a year left on his Arsenal contract after this season, but Wenger said he would not rule out giving him a new deal.

"I remember Van der Sar, at Man United. I compare them, they are intelligent, similar size, similar quality," he said.

"Van der Sar stopped at the end because he decided to stop. So I don't rule it out [a new deal for Cech], but that will only be down to the performances."