Kepa Arrizabalaga in action for Chelsea. (GETTY Images)
Speaking after the win on Sunday (h/t Football.london), Chelsea manager defended Kepa Arrizabalaga after his error against Luton Town in the FA Cup.
The Blues faced the Championship side in the 4th round of the cup and were 2-0 up by the 17th minute, courtesy of a Tammy Abraham brace. However, Luton scored one back soon through Jordan Clark.
The goal resulted from a low first-time shot fired straight at Kepa. His right hand wasn’t strong enough to keep the effort out and the spotlight was back on the Spaniard for the wrong reasons.
Speaking after the match, the Chelsea boss was quick to defend Chelsea’s second choice.
“On the flipside of that, Kepa makes a really top save in the second half to make sure it doesn’t go to 2-2. It’s very easy for people to focus on that but Kepa hasn’t been playing regularly.”
Lampard then mentioned that he was equally irate with the defenders for letting the Luton player get so much space in the box. He marked it down as a moment of complacency from the whole team.
“It was a general team moment of complacency given how comfortable we were at 2-0, which isn’t good enough.”
Things got easier for the Blues once Abraham completed his hat-trick around the 74th minute. The Blues cruised to an easy win from there on and will now face Barnsley away in the 5th round of the FA Cup.
As for Kepa, the moment comes as a big disappointment for him in what has already been a difficult season for the 26-year-old. Lampard brought in Edouard Mendy in the summer, who is now the club’s first-choice ‘keeper.
The Frenchman is likely to reclaim his place in the side when Chelsea face Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League on Monday.
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