Chelsea coach, Frank Lampard has made it very clear of continuing selecting his team based on performances. As the season is progressing, Chelsea’s £22 million summer signing, Edouard Mendy is cementing his position as the No.1 keeper at the club.
The Blues’ manager claims that the high price tag of Kepa Arrizabalaga has not pressurized him to play in place of in-form Mendy. He also stated that Edouard Mendy is now a permanent one between the sticks as he produced a number of impressive performances and showed that he is reliable.
“I do that through selections game-by-game and Mendy, of course, has made himself a permanent fixture at this point,” said Lamaprd as per Goal reports.
“The pressure to win games means I pick people in form whether it is a striker, winger or goalkeeper, whoever. At the same time, the game tomorrow is a chance to give Edou a rest and give Kepa a game. He is training well and he deserves it.”
“What I do see when I watch from afar and we are in hotel rooms a lot at the moment is that he is someone who is supporting him quietly, which is right.
“He is also training well which is the main thing that I look at because the training particularly for goalkeepers, because of the one-on-one training nature, there can’t be one that drops their level.
“They have to all push each other and I see that in the group and I am very pleased with that from Kepa. His reaction has been spot on.”
A record-fee of £71 million was required to move Kepa to Stamford Bridge after his stellar displays with the Atheltic club in the year 2018. He was brought in to replace their departing keeper, Thibaut Courtois who signed for Real Madrid.
Since the move, the Spanish keeper has not been able to show the form he had during his tenure in Spain. His presence not only affected the scoreline but also the backline of the team. His error-prone keeping has leaked several crucial goals- one in this season in the 2-0 loss against Liverpool.
Mendy’s arrival calmed the situation and not only did the backline’s confidence increased, but Chelsea also went on to achieve back-to-back clean sheets for the first time in Lampard’s tenure as a coach.
