Kepa Arrizabalaga has been perhaps the biggest beneficiary of Graham Potter’s arrival at Chelsea.
Edouard Mendy was injured for Potter’s first game in charge, so Kepa was given the nod in goal.
Since then, he’s been keeping clean sheets and playing well, and Mendy is now fit but sitting on the bench. It’s hard to see the Spaniard getting dropped anytime soon. So it should be no surprise that Kepa is so delighted about his return to first team action and the team’s good form:
“We are very happy. It has been important week for us, we didn’t start the group stages in the best way,” the goalkeeper said in quotes on the club’s official website.
“We needed to win both games against AC Milan. Sometimes these types of games happen. It was a huge fight, we were focused and calm. We spoke about that in the changing room at half-time [on Tuesday night]. He has started in the best way. We are improving, we have had only one month but we’re doing well, there is a long way to go.”
Kepa has been well protected by his defence, but has had to make some saves too. It will be interesting to see whether he’s able to hold on to his place indefinitely, or whether there’s increasing pressure from Mendy.
So far Potter has been keen to give everyone a chance, and the Senegal keeper is one of the few who has yet to play a minute.
