Goalkeeper Petr Cech believes Arsenal’s collective team effort rather than his crucial saves was key to beating Bayern Munich – but knows more hard work lies ahead if the Gunners are to reach the knockout stages of the Champions League.

Arsene Wenger’s men battled to a hard-earned 2-0 victory over the runaway Bundesliga leaders at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday night, kickstarting their European campaign following successive defeats.

The final result, however, could have been very different but for the intervention of Cech, the veteran former Chelsea shot-stopper making his first Champions League appearance for the Gunners this season, replacing the injured David Ospina, who was at fault for one of the goals in the 3-2 home defeat by Olympiakos last month.

Cech, though, preferred to focus on the efforts of all the players and not just his contribution in producing a fine early reaction save to deny Thiago Alcantara and then deflecting over a close-range shot from Robert Lewandowski shortly before substitute Olivier Giroud headed Arsenal in front after 77 minutes.

Mesut Ozil netted a second in stoppage time.

“Everybody was doing their bit and I was trying to do my bit,” said the 33-year-old Cech, who won the Champions League with Chelsea in 2012/13.

“I am pleased with my performance because whenever they managed to get through our defensive block I was there to help my team-mates, but I am pleased with the team’s performance as I thought we had been up for the game.

“Obviously if Thiago had scored early in the game then they would have had control of the game, so it was a very important save.”

Arsenal remain bottom of Group F on head-to-head record, but are now level on points with Dinamo Zagreb, who have a minus five goal difference.

The London side travel to Germany next month and will need other results to go their way to stay on course for the knockout stages, with Olympiakos having won 1-0 away to Dinamo to move on to six points, the same as Bayern.

Meanwhile, Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey is set for a spell on the sidelines after the Wales international was forced off during the second half with a hamstring injury.

Wenger confirmed: “He is all right, but very down because he told me that his hamstring is quite a tough one.

“He is out (for Saturday).”

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