Should Chelsea be confident in Mendy for Arsenal duel?

Ben Chilwell pulling up with what seemed to be a hamstring injury in Wednesday night’s Champions League success over Dinamo Zagreb was the obvious talking point after Chelsea’s 2-1 success.

The wide defender is likely to miss the World Cup with England and could be out until the New Year if the worst fears are realised.

However, another Graham Potter revelation that somewhat went under the radar was the admission that Kepa Arrizabalaga will miss Sunday’s game with Premier League leaders Arsenal.

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The Spain goalkeeper was spotted on crutches on Wednesday, days after a foot injury sustained in the infamous 4-1 defeat by Brighton & Hove Albion.

He was expected to sit out Chelsea’s dead-rubber encounter with Dinamo but seemed likely to return against Mikel Arteta’s crew. Potter’s admission to BT Sport after the game highlighted the inaccuracy of those assumptions.

“No, [Kepa] won’t be okay for Sunday,” the Chelsea boss revealed.“It’s only precautionary [to use crutches] to keep the weight off his foot. He’s progressing well but won’t be available for Sunday.”

Indeed, the custodian’s injury means Edouard Mendy will continue between the sticks, an enforced decision that will fill large sections of the Blues fanbase with trepidation.

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Confidence in the Senegal goalkeeper has steadily dipped since the turn of the year, with several high-profile errors leading to calls for the Africa Cup of Nations winner to be dropped.

Those errors and a dip in the consistency of shot-stopping meant those cries intensified in the final months under Thomas Tuchel, who seemed reluctant to jettison Mendy despite Kepa’s rebuilt confidence in the preceding 12 months.

An injury to Mendy in the German’s final Premier League game with West Ham United and the subsequent dismissal of the 2021 Champions League-winning manager meant Potter did not have a difficult decision to make at the start of his Chelsea tenure.

Undoubtedly, the Spaniard making the most of a rare run of starts has seen him retained in the side, despite Potter’s reluctance to overtly proclaim the former Athletic Club custodian as his number one.

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The Englishman’s bow as Blues boss may have disappointingly ended 1-1, a result that put the West London club’s qualification hopes in some danger at the time, but Kepa’s showing against Red Bull Salzburg was one of the encouraging signs of an otherwise humdrum night at Stamford Bridge.

Rushing off his line in the eighth minute of that game demonstrated his sweeping ability and a 40th-minute save to thwart Benjamin Sesko were green shoots of his improved shot-stopping. At the time, GOAL questioned if Mendy was on borrowed time owing to Potter’s preferences, even if it was still too early to call.

Kepa has largely maintained those lofty standards since that match-day two stalemate in Europe, keeping five clean sheets in all competitions in October, with three of those coming in the Premier League.

For context, Mendy had not kept successive shut-outs in all competitions since February and his last run of three or more clean sheets came in October 2021.

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Particularly impressive during Kepa’s run was the consistency of his shot-stopping, even though doubts remain over its sustainability, which saw him prevent a plethora of high-quality chances against Aston Villa, Brentford and Manchester United (before conceding that last-gasp Casemiro header).

Indeed, only Alisson Becker has stopped more high-grade shots than Kepa whose numbers show he has prevented almost five goals based on the quality of those attempts faced. Per 90, the Spain international outranks the Liverpool shot-stopper (0.85-0.53), putting him top of that metric to highlight the recent improvement.

Mendy matching or perhaps surpassing those lofty, and probably unsustainable, standards set by Kepa remains to be seen, but the Senegal international’s two appearances suggest otherwise.

The former Stade Rennes custodian may feel he could have done better with Brighton’s fourth goal — parrying Julio Enciso’s initial attempt back into traffic and not getting a big enough parry on the Paraguayan’s follow-up attempt — scored by Pascal Gross, while Bruno Petkovic’s goal on Wednesday night was the sort of attempt that might have been stopped by Kepa.

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There was also the customary gaffe with the ball at the Amex Stadium, where the Afcon winner’s under-hit pass inside his area could have cost a goal, and it was telling that Thiago Silva chose to take charge of a situation rather than pass responsibility to Mendy.

Be that as it may, it has not been all negative in the Teranga Lion’s last two appearances.

The Chelsea goalie was confident in rushing off his line to smother balls in behind on two occasions in the opening 20 minutes against Dinamo on Wednesday, claim a corner that was sent into his zone with half-time approaching and making a decent save four minutes into the second half to protect the Blues’ advantage.

Those moments may not completely renew supporters’ faith in Mendy, but they may put him in good stead heading into Sunday’s meeting with the high-flying league leaders.

Mendy has demonstrated his big-game prowess in the past, and Potter will need the Senegal man at his best to prevent Chelsea’s third straight loss against Arsenal at Stamford Bridge.

Whether that will be enough to supplant Kepa and regain his spot remains to be seen.