Giroud praises Kepa’s hardwork and commitment during hard times

Kepa Arrizabalaga made a surprise return to the starting lineup in Chelsea’s 2-0 win over Newcastle United on Monday night, his first start in the Premier League since October.

The Spain international had disappointing times under former coach Frank Lampard. He was dropped from the starting lineup after a series of poor performances. 39year old Wily Caballero was preferred in goal close to the end of last season and the club signed Senegalese goalkeeper Edouard Mendy.

Edouard Mendy has been the club’s first choice since his debut in the Carabao Cup against Tottenham and has put up good performances limiting £72m Kepa to cup games. Mendy kept his place under Tuchel after he replaced Lampard in January, but he handed Kepa a rare start and he kept a clean sheet.

“I’m happy for him,” Giroud told Chelsea official website. “He’s stayed focused on his job and committed to what he has to do. Every day at training he is working hard to be ready when the manager will ask him to play and he played very well I think, like the team.”

Tuchel after the game confirmed Mendy is still the club’s first man in goal but the start was needed to give Kepa confidence and for him to feel part of the rhythm.

Giroud came on from the bench for the injured Tammy Abraham and opened the scoring minutes later after a decent work from Timo Werner who got the second of the night ending a run of 100 days and 1000minutes without a goal.