Mendy supplies safe pair of hands behind Chelsea unbeaten run
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The Premier League title race is close to being over, but Edouard Mendy could take the battle for the Golden Glove to the wire.
Chelsea’s goalkeeper has not conceded a goal in 507 minutes now and is within sight of Manchester City’s Ederson. The £18million summer signing from Rennes has made a late surge to challenge the Brazilian, with half of his clean sheets coming in the six weeks since Thomas Tuchel’s arrival as manager.
At Elland Road his tipping of Tyler Roberts’s lob on to the crossbar, showed perfect footwork and athleticism. The Senegal international also clawed away an effort by Raphinha while going the wrong way. “When it comes down to it we can rely on Edou,” said full-back Ben Chilwell. “The one or two opportunities in the game that he has to concentrate and make a vital save for us, we know he is going to do that.”
Mendy, 29, talked about carrying the responsibility for African goalkeepers when he arrived in the Premier League, hoping to pave the way for others from his continent in an under-represented position. It felt a heavy burden but the player, who was claiming unemployment benefits six years ago, has seized his opportunity. Finding the right combination in attack has been the conundrum for Tuchel but at the other end of the pitch he has relied on Mendy.
Tuchel has made 39 changes during his short spell in charge, the most of any Premier League manager during that time, and is following in
Claudio Ranieri’s footsteps as a “tinkerman”
at Chelsea. But Mendy, along with Cesar Azpilicueta and Antonio Rudiger, has started the most times under the German and clean sheets have been built on that trio of defensive pillars. Having the world’s costliest goalkeeper, Kepa Arrizabalaga, competing for a starting place appears to have driven Mendy on and there are signs he could fulfil the fiveyear contract as No 1. He is set to be in goal for Wednesday’s Champions League tie against Atletico
Madrid when another clean sheet will seal a path to the quarter-finals. Olivier Giroud could start after Kai Havertz again drew a blank.
Leeds have striker problems of their own after Patrick Bamford landed awkwardly and was substituted in the first half. Rodrigo Moreno came on but he is still short of match fitness.
Marcelo Bielsa, like Tuchel, has made plenty of changes this season and has used 13 different centreback pairings. Diego Llorente and Pascal Struijk kept Chelsea out.
“Every other game there is a new centre-half next to me,” Struijk said. “I thought we did well in this game, our communication was good, we worked it out and got a clean sheet.”
Everton
You do not often hear Premier League managers issuing “come and get him” pleas on behalf of their stars. But Burnley’s Dwight Mcneil need not worry. Sean Dyche’s effusive appraisal after the winger tore into Everton’s European dreams was recognition he is destined for “bigger and better” rather than eagerness to usher him out.
Dyche is shrewd enough to know how to add a few digits to Mcneil’s value with comments about “superclub” interest, even if he has just extended the 21-year-old’s contract until 2024.
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Mcneil’s flourishing talent was typified with the winning goal from 25 yards, one of those gorgeous strikes when the ball hits the underside of the net in the top corner.
His all-round game in a dominant first half was a glimpse of what might come, the left-winger’s workrate as eye-catching as his close control and tendency to deliver crosses instantly. Such directness contributed to the opening goal for Chris Wood, and the conscientiousness Dyche referred to was evident in his application off and on the ball.
Carlo Ancelotti and his watching director of football, Marcel Brands, could not fail to notice Mcneil’s effectiveness at both ends, in contrast to their own wide men.
A player of Mcneil’s profile is what Everton lack as Ancelotti keeps using an assortment of central
midfielders, No 10s or advanced full-backs in wide positions. Such a versatile winger would certainly benefit Dominic Calvert-lewin, who thrives on early balls – and who pulled a headed goal back for Everton
soon after Mcneil’s beauty. Whether Mcneil is the solution when there are so many alternatives for clubs aspiring to play in Europe is, with respect, an issue for several of Burnley’s better performers, particularly when emerging English talents command such big fees.
Over eight years, Dyche has done an extraordinary job at a club with relatively limited resources.
But he is the first to admit that in 70 per cent of games, he cares not about conceding 70 per cent of possession. That means defenders drop back, and attacking players such as Mcneil must make the most of fewer touches in the final third.
The England Under-21 international has seven goals and 14 assists in 87 Premier League games. “In a side like ours, everyone is working at full tilt all the time,” Dyche said. “We have to maximise every inch of what we do. [Mcneil] spends a lot of his time working for the team.
“You come away to these places, and certainly the superpower clubs, where you’re likely to have less of the ball. A lot of it is gaining experience and he is gaining loads. He’s playing regular Premier League football at a very young age and has been for a couple of years now. That is invaluable.”
Mcneil looks a classic case of a young player who is putting in the hard yards and will reap more rewards with his next move to the “superclub” mentioned by Dyche.