Chelsea: No point in persevering with Arrizabalaga after Brighton display

After Kepa Arrizabalaga’s feeble display against Brighton in Chelsea’s Premier League opener, there’s no need for Frank Lampard to give him another chance.

If you didn’t know it before, you know it now. Kepa Arrizabalaga is not a top-tier goalkeeper. Not right now, anyway. His flap-heavy display at the Amex Stadium on Monday night did little to convince anybody he could ever get back to the level that saw him garner that world record £71.6 million fee.

Whether he was worth that in the first place is, of course, another argument entirely—though the answer is obviously no. Still, he was undoubtedly a player with potential in his days at Athletic Bilbao. You don’t get linked with Real Madrid if you’re not—and it would be wrong to imply he’s never been impressive in a Chelsea shirt, either. He’s made some big saves at big times, the two in the Europa League semi-final penalty shootout against Eintracht Frankfurt being the first that come to mind. And yet … there’s always a ‘yet’. He’s always showed a proclivity to fumble; he’s always seemed brittle mentally; he’s always seemed difficult to coach, difficult to handle, with a similar difficulty in handling.

After a season from hell, and Monday night’s opener from Hades, now must surely be the time Frank Lampard dispels of any hopes of resuscitating the custodian’s career. To be fair, Willy Caballero’s installment at the back end of last season looked to have done just that, and most Blues fans have spent much of the summer transfer window searching for alternatives.

With Rennes’ Edouard Mendy, Chelsea has now found one. As shown by a myriad of stats, the Senegalese international is clearly an upgrade. With just 19 goals conceded last season in 24 Ligue 1 appearances—compared with the 47 in 33 of Arrizabalaga—as well as 0.9 more saves per game, he’s clearly a more confident player. His save ratio of 76.3 percent should also offer encouragement that he won’t be beaten by the first and only speculative long shot that comes his way. This is essentially confirmed by his xG on target faced differential of 2.1, compared to Arrizabalaga’s disastrous total -12.7.

However, given Rennes’ recent “how bout you throw in this guy” stalling, it seems fans may have to wait to see the 28-year-old between the sticks in blue (or, you know, some garish green). But that doesn’t mean we have to see the Spaniard again—especially against Liverpool.

If you remember, that season-closing clash at Anfield was something of a watershed moment in the Arrizaba-saga. Sure, every fan/pundit under the sun knew he was a lost cause, but we didn’t know that every single member of his back line believed it too. A cacophony of coarse screams in his direction following his 57th refusal to come for a cross was confirmation enough.

Five goals were shipped that day, with a top three finish essentially sailing away with it. Despite all this, Lampard’s tone in Monday’s post-match pressers was highly diplomatic, going as far as to say he was “happy” with the 25-year-old’s performance. Many didn’t believe him and many will hope they don’t have to.

Of course, when a player costs that much, there are other considerations at play in his appraisal. Still, there’s more at stake this weekend than the Blues’ bottom line. If this summer’s outlay has really been about title ambitions, then they must put their mouth where their money is. That starts with benching Arrizabalaga, and ends with the signing of Mendy.

I say ‘ends’, but a couple more defensive additions wouldn’t hurt, would they?