Kepa Arrizabalaga has been under scrutiny for Chelsea from the past season but recently it seems like his errors have escalated – so much so that Frank Lampard to drop him.
During the past couple of games, Kepa Arrizabalaga has caused a series of mistakes which in many cases have led to dropping of points for the Blues.
And while the Chelsea boss has up until backed his regular No 1 but on Saturday, he raised a number of questions by choosing to name Caballero in the starting line-up ahead of the Spaniard.
While Caballero did concede two goals during the match meaning the Blues had to be content with only a point but speaking after the match, the manager explained why he chose to name Willy Caballero ahead of Kepa Arrizabalaga.
‘You make decisions every week and every day in this job,’ the manager told reporters.
‘No decision is easy. When it comes to a goalkeeper you probably do give it a little bit more thought and a bit more time, especially if someone seems to be the designated number one.
‘That can’t be the end of the story. We have to be competitive. Willy trains well, he acts well and he played well against Hull last week. I decided to stick with him.
‘I thought his performance was pretty good, he made some good saves, was comfortable with his feet. I was right behind the Harvey Barnes goal and it was typical with the deflection.
‘He wasn’t at fault for the second goal, not in my opinion. The ball travels on the cross, he follows that and retreats to his goal when he realises he can’t get it.
‘The problem comes when we defend the cross and get sucked into the six-yard box. Chilwell pops up the other side of that, and someone has to be tighter to him.’
Only a couple of months ago, there were talks of Kepa Arrizabalaga replacing David De Gea as the regular No 1 for Spain but surely his performances in the recent few weeks have raised doubts in the minds of a lot of people.
While Caballero certainly did not perform up to everyone’s expectations, but surely his inclusion in the first XI shows that the Chelsea manager is not afraid to take the tough calls.
