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LONDON. — The priority for Petr Cech, as it always has been, was the result. When Arsenal reached the 80-minute mark against Bournemouth at the Emirates Stadium on Monday night, however, 2-0 up and in control, the goalkeeper admitted his thoughts did begin to wander.

“I have to confess that I started thinking about the record,” Cech said.

“The most important thing was to win the game and once we got the 2-0 lead and it was going towards the end of the game . . . In the last 10 minutes, I was checking the clock. I was thinking, OK . . .”

More than 11 years on from his first English Premier League clean sheet, which came on his debut for Chelsea in the 1-0 home win over Manchester United — the game that also launched José Mourinho’s career in England – Cech stood on the brink of No. 170.

David James retired with 169 English Premier League clean sheets; his last appearance in the top flight had been for Portsmouth in May 2010, and Cech has long had him in his sights. When the Czech Republic international left Chelsea last summer and chose to remain in the division with Arsenal, rather than move abroad, it became a matter of when, and not if, he caught and overhauled the former England No. 1.

The clock has ticked loudly. There was even the false alarm after Arsenal’s 2-0 win over Stoke City on September 12, in which Cech played, when it was said that he had equalled James on 169.

Cech, though, made a statement via Twitter in which he said that four of his clean sheets did not count as he had not played the full 90 minutes in those matches — and so his correct number at the time was 165.

Nobody has heard the ticking more than Cech and those final minutes against Bournemouth seemed to stretch like hours.

This thing matters to him, so when the full-time whistle blew, and he and Arsenal had won 2-0, the elation surged.

The cameras zoomed in on him, just as much as Arsenal’s man of the match, Mesut Ozil, and Cech embraced his team-mates and waved happily to the crowd.

When he walked into the tunnel, he raised his arms in the air and shouted: “At last!” It was not the most memorable game – and Cech did not have a serious save to make – but, to the 33-year-old, it will always have a special place.

“I feel really proud because I believe that this is the best league in the world and one of the most difficult leagues to play for a goalkeeper, and so to have achieved such a record is a great personal achievement,” Cech said.

“What makes me happy the most, probably, is that these clean sheets have so far brought four Premier League trophies. So, hopefully, we will add clean sheets this season and we will celebrate at the end of the season. This is far more important.” — The Guardian.