Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech says his strong form this season has been helped by his decision to retire from internationals.
Cech announced in July following Euro 2016 that he would stop playing for the Czech Republic after 14 years with the national team, saying it would help him prolong his club career.
And the 34-year-old Cech is already seeing the benefits.
"You have time to do things that when you travel with the national team you can't do," Cech told Arsenal's official website. "It means you can do extra sessions, you can combine the things that during the season when you have a lot of games and might not have a chance to do.
"It's a new situation for me but so far it has been very positive."
Cech, who has also been rested for all of Arsenal's cup games, said he's been happy with his performances for Arsenal after making a number of key saves at crucial points in games throughout the season.
But he admitted that one thing that's been lacking is clean sheets. Cech won the Golden Glove for most clean sheets in the Premier League during his first season with the Gunners, but only has six from 20 games this campaign.
"So far it's a kind of a different campaign because I think I have been doing well but if you take clean sheets, we had a run of games where we conceded at least one goal," Cech said. "The most important thing is obviously that the team wins but it is good sometimes to have a clean sheet and that solid base at the back.
"We have conceded a number of penalties in games where the penalty was the only goal [we conceded], so sometimes you have these runs which are a bit unlucky against you but you would like to do something extra and find one extra save.
"Overall it is a season in which I am playing at the level I need to be at. You want to improve every game and keep the standard up the whole time -- you don't want to have a period where you are not doing so well or you are not where you should be, which hasn't happened yet so hopefully I can keep like that."