WE CAME to scrutinise a goalkeeper — at one time arguably the world’s finest, Petr Cech; a man who had appeared to have fallen out of love with his craft. By the end, we were commiserating with his counterpart, the young Pole, Lukasz Fabianski. When Arsenal required a steady pair of hands and a cool head, he failed to deliver.

Fabianski was rarely troubled, but when he was, his failures proved traumatic to the Gunners’ cause. Manuel Almunia’s understudy was guilty in the opening minutes, when his mad dash out of the area culminated with Didier Drogba beating him to the ball and nodding it goalwards. The young defender Kieran Gibbs cleared. Florent Malouda caught him out at the near post for the equaliser. And then, as stoppage time threatened, with the scores at 1-1, Fabianki again dashed impetuously from his area, failed to intercept the on-rushing Drogba, and that was that.

Other Arsenal personnel were at fault, particularly Mikael Silvestre, but the abiding memory will be of the Chelsea striker hurdling Fabianski’s leg and placing the ball triumphantly into a gaping net.

At the final whistle, Cech barely reacted. Just a petulant gesture and glare at the Arsenal fans behind his goal who had been mocking him. There had been no hiding place for him. It was almost a statement of intent that he had emerged in luminous orange livery and matching socks. Whatever his state of mind after Tuesday’s events at Stamford Bridge, Cech had no intention of hiding.

The message was simple from this imposing figure: don’t anyone dare accuse him of having descended permanently from the standards he epitomised when he was adjudged the world’s finest goalkeeper. As for reports that his manager has lined up, of all people, Spurs goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes to replace him, banish them from your minds.

This was entirely different from the Champions League semi-final against Liverpool. Chelsea were again all power and menace on the ball. But here, after Arsenal’s goal, they didn’t look liable to concede every time the opposition attacked.

The Liverpool match, like the 4-3 victory over Bolton three days previously, was car-crash football. And, although at the centre of it, much was the responsibility of Cech, it was also down to his defenders lacking due care and attention, with the resulting detritus strewn all over Stamford Bridge. The keeper was not helped by the fact that his outfield players started out like a team of workers waiting for the factory hooter to end their shift, but only made it as far as the morning tea.

Yesterday Cech had the controlling, calming, galvanising John Terry back in front of him.

Goalkeeping is not just about flamboyant saves. It’s about command of his area. An absence of that transmits itself to his defenders. But similarly, the goalkeeper must have trust in them to take charge when necessary. Here, Cech was rarely exposed as he had been against Liverpool.

The thought still persists, though: how much of his recent displays have been a consequence of that horrible injury sustained at Reading in 2006? Psychologically, how much damage has it done, when each match you have to don that accursed helmet?

Here, Chelsea conceded within 20 minutes. Arsenal, as they tend to be, were initially all about foreplay. All stroking and caressing. But then Theo Walcott struck. At first glance, Cech looked the culprit again. TV replays showed that he had been deceived by a deflection off Ashley Cole. But after that, his defenders played their part.

Time will reveal if this is the start of the Cech we knew and admired returning to his status of old.