Spanish goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga has been dropped by Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri for the crunch derby with Tottenham, following his Carabao Cup final antics.
The Blues are preparing to face Mauricio Pochettino’s side in the Premier League, and faith has no longer been placed in Kepa as a result of his recent petulant ways. Speaking ahead of the crunch fixture, Sarri outlined how his decision had been made as a display of authority. ‘It’s a choice. It’s a message for my group. That we are a group and not 25 players. It’s my choice,’ said the Italian boss.
Giving full backing to the incoming Caballero, Sarri added: ‘I think he is ready. He has very good experience. So we are not worried with him.’ Discussion soon became rife following the omission of Kepa, with former players weighing in with their opinions on the matter. Former Chelsea midfielder Joe Cole told BT Sport, during his pre-match punditry duties: ‘He’s done absolutely the right thing, he’s asserted he’s the leader. He’ll live or die by it tonight. The message in the long term from him is this is my team, it’s my group.’
A view which was shared by Rio Ferdinand: ‘I think he looks worse if he lets kepa play tonight and they went on to win. It’s the only decision he could’ve made today. Caballero won’t be looking at it like pressure, he’ll see this as an opportunity now. If he goes in and has an unbelievable game today you shouldn’t be dropping Caballero. Long term Kepa is going to be the goalkeeper, but this is my man [Caballero] right now because of the discipline. I need to instil discipline with this squad,’ Ferdinand added.
Since the Carabao Cup final it was widely suggested the 24-year-old may be dropped to the bench, in favour of the vastly experienced Willy Caballero – who was left red-faced on Sunday. After going down with cramp in the final minutes of added time on Sunday, Kepa was asked to come off by Sarri ahead of a penalty shootout. Argentina international Caballero was raring to go on the touchline, strapping on his gloves and going through stretching exercises.
The scenes which followed quickly brought embarrassment onto the club and their manager however, with Kepa insisting he was fit enough to continue and openly protesting that he would not leave the field. Sarri was left furious as a result, with Caballero having to trudge back up into the stands and re-take his seat among the substitutes. Chelsea were defeated in the shootout, which involved Sergio Aguero’s lacklustre penalty slipping under the diving Kepa – despite appearing to be simple save.
The youngster – who broke the world record transfer fee for a goalkeeper set by Liverpool and Alisson Becker – quickly issued a statement in the aftermath of the events. ‘Although there was a misunderstanding, on reflection, I made a big mistake with how I handled the situation. I wanted to take the time today to apologise fully and in person to the coach, to Willy, my team-mates and to the club. I have done this and now I want to offer the same apology to the fans. I will learn from this episode and will accept any punishment or discipline the club decides is appropriate,’ said Kepa.
Following the match – in which Chelsea triumphed 2-0 – Caballero was quick to look past previous events. ‘We listen a lot about what happened the other day. But the very good news is that it doesn’t care what happened, we are ready also. Kepa was fantastic today, supporting me. I think he learned, we learned, and we are improving as a team,’ he said.