Maurizio Sarri reveals Kepa Arrizabalaga future plans after Chelsea beat Tottenham

Posted Thursday, February 28, 2019 by Dailystar.co.uk

Maurizio Sarri reveals Kepa Arrizabalaga future plans after Chelsea beat Tottenham
Kepa Arrizabalaga will remain as Chelsea's No 1 (Pic: Getty)

CHELSEA boss Maurizio Sarri admits Kepa Arrizabalaga is still his first-choice goalkeeper despite being dropped for tonight's win over Tottenham.

Sarri decided to axe his goalkeeper after he refused to be substituted during Sunday's Carabao Cup final.

Arrizabalaga went down injured with minutes remaining against Man City but made a miraculous recovery when Willy Caballero was about to replace him.

The Argentinian did get his shot this even, playing all 90 minutes of the 2-0 win over Tottenham.

But Sarri has revealed that Arrizabalaga is still his first choice in between the sticks for Chelsea.

"No, because the performance in this match was really good but in line with the last one," Sarri said when asked if Chelsea's win was related with Arrizabalaga being dropped.

"Fortunately it was different. It was the right decision, Kepa made a big mistake.

"He paid with the club and now the team.

"Kepa for tomorrow will be with us. I don’t know if the next match he will be with us, but in one of the next two for sure.

Maurizio Sarri reveals Kepa Arrizabalaga future plans after Chelsea beat Tottenham
Kepa Arrizabalaga refused to come off against Man City (Pic: Getty)

"We cannot kill him. When you are young you make mistakes, but you need to understand.

"Of course [he is still No 1.]"

Speaking before the match, Sarri said: "It's a choice. It's a message for my group. We are a group - not 25 players. It is my choice."

And former Chelsea star Joe Cole agreed that Sarri had to drop the Spaniard.

"He has got it spot on, we were all talking earlier and he has absolutely done the right thing. He has asserted that he is the leader," Cole said on BT.

"This is the message to the team. He will live or die by it tonight. The pressure is on Willy Caballero to perform.

"The message in the long-term is this is my team and my group. No one is going to step out of line and I applaud him for it. It is a great decision."