The German international keeper has yet to play for the Gunners since his £19.2million summer move from Bayer Leverkusen.
But Unai Emery has confirmed that Leno will start tonight’s Europa League clash with Ukrainian unknowns Vorskla Poltava at the Emirates.
And the Gunners boss refused to confirm that Cech will automatically return to the team for Sunday’s Premier League clash with Everton following an error-strewn start to the season.
Leno, 26, has spent his first month in England on the Arsenal subs’ bench watching Cech struggling to adapt to Emery’s demands for him to play with the ball at his feet.
Now he has been told to make the most of his opportunity to impress and show that he is ready to be the long-term replacement for the veteran Cech.
Emery revealed: “I spoke with Bernd before the first match of the season and gave him the reasons for my selection.
“But in our planning for this game I have spoken with goalkeeping coach Javi Garcia and we agree that we need to give Leno some minutes.
“So he is going to be in the starting line-up and I am looking forward to him playing well.
“We signed Leno to improve with us and to compete with the other goalkeepers and I am very happy with his work every day in training.
“He has the complete qualities needed for a goalkeeper and we want him to go a long way here at Arsenal.
“But Cech has also been doing very well and his performances have been good.
“So we are not going to give Petr or Bernd or Emi Martinez just one competition to play in. What will always decide who plays for me will be the performance in every match.”
Cech, 36, has yet to keep a clean sheet in his five Premier League appearances this season and has not looked comfortable playing the sweeper-keeper role which Emery demands.
The manager insists: “Each goalkeeper has different qualities. Maybe Leno is better than Petr at some things and Petr is better at others.
“But the one thing they cannot do is to change the way we play. We need our style to work and we are working with each goalkeeper to improve in the way we want to play.”
Cech, who has kept more clean sheets than any other keeper in Premier League history, says: "The goalkeeper situation is very complicated.
“The competition is bigger and I have to work hard to not only make sure that the manager picks me but also that he sticks with me.
“I’m in the last year of my contract so I guess it depends on my performances, the way I play and the way I stay fit throughout the season. Then we’ll see what happens next.”
Tonight’s Europa League tie gives Emery the opportunity to reignite his love affair with the competition he won three years in a row as Seville boss between 2014 and 2016.
The Spaniard, who will make multiple changes to his line-up for their opening group game, says: “Every title is very important for us and I want to play for them all.
“Arsenal played the UEFA Cup final against Galatasaray in 2000 but didn’t win and also played in the 2006 Champions League final and against didn’t win.
“My ambition is for the team to continue to improve and to keep achieving the personal objectives in my career.”
Source: Read Full Article