It’s Chelsea against Arsenal this weekend and it seems that goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga will be missing from the clash with a foot injury.
The Spanish stopper has won back his number one spot under Graham Potter. After signing for £71m and having a few nightmare performances, Kepa had lost his place to Edouard Mendy, who impressed last season.
However, after suffering a foot injury and missing the midweek Champions League game, it seems Kepa will now also be missing for the clash with Arsenal. In a video feed shared by Sky Sports (via Football Daily), Sky confirmed that Kepa wasn’t actually taking part in training at all and with that, will miss the Arsenal game.
It means another chance for Mendy to reaffirm his status as the main man at Chelsea. He was very much the number one goalkeeper under Thomas Tuchel. However, since Graham Potter came in, Kepa has been the preferred option.
Kepa’s resurgence is a far cry from reports at the start of the summer that suggested he’d be on his way. Newcastle were thought to be looking at the Spaniard, who was labelled ‘fantastic‘ by Chelsea coach Arno Michels.
Chelsea know they need to beat Arsenal to breathe life into their season after last week’s horror loss at Brighton.
TBR’s View: Mendy a capable Kepa replacement at Chelsea
It’s never ideal having your number one goalkeeper out injured. But here, Chelsea has a stopper in Edouard Mendy who is more than capable of filling in for Kepa.
In fairness to Kepa, he has done well to get back on the horse at Chelsea. His performances have been great and he’s showing some of that potential that saw the Blues shell out such huge money.
Mendy, meanwhile, is good enough himself. In a way, Chelsea are blessed to have two goalkeepers of such high esteem and he’ll be just fine against Arsenal.