Thomas Tuchel will start Kepa Arrizabalaga at Barnsley in the FA Cup fifth round on Thursday and has told him not to put too much pressure on himself. The Chelsea manager will give an opportunity to players who have not had many minutes in his four Premier League matches in charge, including the central midfielders N’Golo Kanté and Billy Gilmour and the winger Hakim Ziyech. He reported that the striker Timo Werner was unavailable because of a dead leg.
It was Arrizabalaga’s inclusion that generated the most interesting discussion, with Tuchel describing it as a new start. The 26-year-old, who became the world’s most expensive goalkeeper when he joined Chelsea from Athletic Bilbao in 2018 for £71.6m, has endured a difficult season, making errors that have led to goals in four of his six club appearances.
Arrizabalaga was dropped after the first two games by Tuchel’s predecessor, Frank Lampard, who turned first to Willy Caballero then to the new signing Édouard Mendy, who is now established as the first choice.
“We had a view on his situation and some difficulties on the sporting side,” Tuchel said. “Maybe, also, the circumstances of his transfer are a little bit on his shoulders. The good thing for him is that this is a new start for him because I don’t have a history with him. It is a special position. If you do mistakes, everybody sees it and talks about it so you need a lot of mental strength and quality. I see this in all of the three goalkeepers. I absolutely believe [Arrizabalaga can turn it around].
“This is an opportunity [against Barnsley] and hopefully he does not want to overachieve. I want him to play a normal match. He does not have to show me or anybody else that he is ready to be Spain’s No 1.”
Chelsea have learned the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie against Atlético Madrid on Tuesday week will be played in Bucharest rather than the Spanish capital because of coronavirus travel restrictions. Chelsea will host the second leg at Stamford Bridge on 17 March, meaning they have a slight sporting advantage. Spain has placed restrictions on travellers from the UK. “They [Atlético] don’t have the home advantage, so I can absolutely understand their feelings,” Tuchel said. “Do I have anything to do with it? No. Was it our decision? No. Don’t doubt that they will be ready to fight against us.”
