Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has praised Petr Cech after the goalkeeper kept yet another clean sheet in his side's goalless draw with Stoke City this afternoon.

The former Chelsea keeper made a number of important saves in the second half to keep Stoke at bay at the Britannia, with a double stop to deny Joselu and Bojan Krkic arguably the pick of the bunch.

Wenger admitted that his side had to work hard for their point, but suggested that they could have claimed all three had they been more clinical in front of goal.

"Maybe we had a better opportunities to score, they played very well, very physical and were very direct, which is an unusual style for them," Wenger told BBC Sport.

"We needed to be strong physically and had a great spirit, we fought very hard but couldn't take our chances. It is a hard fought 0-0. We have done better than years before at this ground and showed we can fight even when we miss certain players.

"Petr Cech was outstanding, we needed a player like him in the air when Stoke played that kind of game."

Arsenal missed the chance to move two points clear at the top of the table, although the draw does lift them back above Manchester City and Leicester City.