Mason Mount insists the Chelsea squad are ‘all behind’ under-fire goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga despite his latest mistake against Liverpool.
Spain international Kepa has endured a difficult time at Stamford Bridge since his record-breaking move from Athletic Bilbao in 2018.
Rather than justifying his £72million price-tag and establishing himself as one of the best goalkeepers in the Premier League, Kepa has made a string of errors and was dropped towards the end of last season.
His struggles have continued at the start of the new campaign and Sadio Mane intercepted Kepa’s pass on Sunday to score and help Liverpool clinch a 2-0 win over Frank Lampard’s side.
Mount says Kepa ‘knows’ he needs to improve but says he and his team-mates are all still ‘behind’ the goalkeeper.
‘We know that Kepa is an experienced goalkeeper, he will look at it and he knows where he needs to look at it and improve but we are all going to be behind him,’ Mount said.
‘We all make mistakes, I make mistakes, I give the ball away but it’s just in their half and I can give the ball away and it’s different when it’s the back four.
‘But as I said, we are all behind him, we all support him and it doesn’t matter because now we need to look towards the next game now.’
Liverpool took control of their Premier League match against Chelsea from the moment Blues defender Andreas Christensen was sent off for taking out Mane as he raced through on goal.
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Shortly after half-time, Mane scored twice to put the game to bed, with Chelsea’s Jorginho wasting the chance to half the deficit as he missed a late penalty.
Lampard said: ‘For chances the first half was very even. The red card changes the face of the game, the talk I do at half-time, and it forces me into a reshuffle.
‘It was always going to be difficult after that.’
‘If it was given as a red straight away, you continue with that.’
Chelsea are next in action on Wednesday night with a EFL Cup clash against Championship side Barnsley, while Liverpool face Lincoln City on Thursday.
