Lampard ‘very happy’ with Kepa and Chelsea’s goalkeeper coaching, too

Kepa Arrizabalaga is the worst goalkeeper in the Premier League. You can read that on Twitter, so you know it’s true. You might even find some highly limited “statistics” to back up the hot takes.

Frank Lampard probably doesn’t read Twitter. That’s probably a good thing.

Also good: Frank Lampard remains very happy with Kepa Arrizabalaga, pointing out (correctly), that he’s made some big saves to preserve points for Chelsea.

“Sometimes I think [goalkeepers] take too much on their shoulders because clean sheets are an absolute collective. So I will always hope that [Kepa] feels confident. It is a balance between confidence and players being on edge knowing that we want them to produce.

“He has made good saves recently, vs Brighton. I’m always happy with that because that is what he is there for, that’s his job, making saves to win us points. I’m happy with that so long may that continue.

Kepa, who bears the burden of the word’s most expensive goalkeeper, has been practically mistake-free since arriving at Stamford Bridge. Sure, you can question certain things. You always can. Sure, he could be a little bit taller (though he’s definitely a baller). And he needs to do a few more wrist curls. But no goalkeeper is perfect. Not even Alisson Becker. Not even Petr Čech.

Kepa’s also still very young (especially for a goalkeeper) at 25. He’s two years younger than Alisson, for example, which doesn’t sound like much but two years ago Alisson was barely a speck on the world’s goalkeeping radar.

So Kepa should have room for improvement (like most of Chelsea) — provided we can unlock it. That will depend on the coaching he’s receiving, which has led to some suggestions that Lampard would want to bring in his former Derby County goalkeeping coach, Shay Given. But Lampard insists he’s very happy with that department as well, which is currently headed up by former Chelsea goalkeeper Henrique Hilário in his first full season as the head goalkeeper coach.

“Shay Given – no, loved working with him but I am very happy with that I have got now.”

-Frank Lampard; source: Goal

Kepa isn’t perfect. He may never be. He probably won’t ever be because there is no such thing as a perfect goalkeeper. Our expectations should probably be adjusted to a more reasonable level. There’s little reason to hound him out of the number one spot at Chelsea.