Thomas Tuchel praises Kepa Arrizabalaga’s positive mindset

With Edouard Mendy set to be out for the second consecutive game due to injury, Kepa Arrizabalaga is expected to start again for Chelsea when they take on Aston Villa. The Blues’ manager Thomas Tuchel has been discussing Kepa’s current state of mind and the price tag he believes the goalkeeper is no longer burdened by ahead of the Carabao Cup third round tie. When Kepa was asked to fill in for the injured Mendy, who is still unavailable for selection, he shone at Tottenham on Sunday. Tuchel, however, hopes to have him back for the visit of Manchester City in the Premier League this weekend.

“He seems happy to me,” Tuchel was quoted as saying by the club’s website. “Everybody wants to have more minutes, but we have contracts for 24 players including the goalkeepers. We simply cannot give everybody the same amount of minutes. It is more dramatic for the goalkeepers because obviously you don’t change within games, so the situation seems worse, but I don’t feel Kepa like this. I feel an open guy, a humble guy, a super nice guy, a top, top professional, and a big part of this squad.

“I feel him happy. Maybe he could be happier in terms of having more minutes, but I don’t feel him concerned in the moment because he is pushing and he is fighting for his chances.”

‘It was not necessary for him to prove to me he is a good goalkeeper’

Kepa has had his ups and downs in goal since joining Chelsea. Tuchel, however, believes he is no longer affected by the price tag of his move to Stamford Bridge. “You cannot force situations. His mindset is calm and he is positive. It was not necessary for him to prove to me he is a good goalkeeper. I see it every day in training,” he added.

“Maybe he is at the point where he does not try too hard to convince everybody he is worth the money the club paid. Who cares about the money? Okay, the money was paid, so what now? We have two strong goalkeepers and we need both of them. If you need any proof, look at the weekend, when he was the key factor to have a clean sheet. If the money is too high or too low, these measurements do not exist for us. I have a feeling the pressure is off his shoulders.”

Thomas Tuchel updates on Edouard Mendy’s injury

Thomas Tuchel recently informed that there will be some changes to the squad for Chelsea’s Carabao Cup tie this midweek and keeper Edouard Mendy will not be returning in goal. “Mendy cannot play tomorrow,” Tuchel confirmed at his pre-match media conference.

“He has not been in training so far so we will try to do everything for Saturday, to reintegrate him tomorrow for individual training and hopefully Thursday’s team training, but not yet. I think Saturday is possible but it’s a race against pain and a race against time. So let’s see. I hope he will be back in team training on Thursday and if this goes well he can be ready for Saturday, but I don’t know right now.”

Speaking about his team selection for the midweek cup-tie, Tuchel said, “It’s a matter of the amount of games and the loads that we had for the players. There were some intensive games. I will not announce the line-up now but there will be some changes because we take the opportunity to give important minutes in an important competition to guys who are missing the minutes at the moment.”