Thomas Tuchel is pleased that Kepa Arrizabalaga is still at Chelsea.
Speaking in the post-match interview (h/t The Mirror), Thomas Tuchel has praised the performance of Chelsea ace Kepa Arrizabalaga after his penalty heroics against Aston Villa in the EFL Cup.
The Blues came eventually came through on the day as they entered the fourth round of the EFL Cup after defeating Aston Villa. However, it was a hard-fought battle.
Timo Werner gave the West London club the lead after just 10 minutes into the second half as he scored his first goal of the season. Villa, however, soon equalized, thanks to a bullet header by Cameron Archer.
The game went to penalties and Chelsea’s hero on the night was Kepa Arrizabalaga yet again. The Spaniard saved one penalty from Marvelous Nakamba, which proved to be the difference-maker after Reece James put Chelsea’s fifth penalty into the roof of the net.
This is not the first time this season that Arrizabalaga has produced heroics in a penalty shoot-out as he also did so against Villarreal in the UEFA Super Cup final last month. Tuchel was delighted with his shot-stopper’s performance against Aston Villa.
“Kepa is the man again. He’s very strong with penalties. It helps if you have had good experiences, even in penalty shoot-outs, so we focused on that.”
Tuchel was also pleased that some of his fringe stars got some minutes out on the pitch. He said (h/t The Mirror):
“It was a good game, full of energy, good chances, two teams who tried everything to win. It was a nice game to watch. This is also part of what we do: to have entertainment. I’m happy because we won, and we have some competitive minutes in our players’ legs.”
Kepa, however, will now be hoping to retain his spot for Saturday’s clash against Manchester City as there are still doubts over Edouard Mendy’s fitness levels for the weekend.
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