Kepa faces fight for No1 shirt after clanger

CHELSEA goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga faces a fight for his future after his blunder gifted Liverpool victory yesterday. Boss Frank Lampard vowed to keep supporting error-prone Arrizabalaga, but Chelsea are expected to complete a £22million deal for Rennes goalkeeper Edouard Mendy this week. Sadio Mane’s double sealed a straightforward win for the champions, his second coming after he had intercepted Kepa’s poor clearance. Lampard said of his £71.6m keeper: ‘It’s a clear mistake that cost us. Kepa has to keep working, he has to have support around him. In difficult times, players need support. Nobody tries to make mistakes in football.’ Lampard also insisted he simply had no space for defender Antonio Rudiger after dropping him from his squad, placing a question mark over his future at the club. Rudiger was also an unused sub in Chelsea’s season-opening win at Brighton last week. Lampard kept faith with Andreas Christensen and Kurt Zouma, with Rudiger’s place on the bench taken by Fikayo Tomori. Chelsea also have Thiago Silva among their options at centre-back. Rudiger has entered the final two years of his contract but Chelsea have not yet attempted to renegotiate an extension. Lampard said: ‘We have five centre-halves, so I can’t pick three on the bench. I have to pick the squad via training and the opponent.’

Christensen was sent off for hauling down Mane following a pitchside VAR review by referee Paul Tierney. He initially showed a yellow. Lampard, who also saw Jorginho’s late penalty saved by Alisson, said: ‘The red card changes the game. It was always going to be difficult after that.’ Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp handed £25million signing Thiago Alcantara a 45-minute, second-half debut, saying: ‘When they went one man down, it became the perfect game for him. He can command the rhythm.’