Petr Cech explains "hard decision" behind Chelsea dropping Kepa Arrizabalaga for final

Legendary Chelsea goalkeeper and now technical director Petr Cech has explained the “hard decision” behind Thomas Tuchel ’s move to drop Kepa Arrizabalaga for the final of the Club World Cup.

Kepa had become the Blues’ starter in goal while Edouard Mendy was away at the Africa Cup of Nations, a tournament he helped Senegal to win for the first time in their history.

The Spaniard has impressed during that spell, starting all eight games that Tuchel has played while Mendy has been turning out for the Lions of Teranga in Cameroon.

He had seemingly revitalised his career, keeping five clean sheets in his spell as Chelsea ’s number one, having previously had little chance of dislodging Mendy, who had cemented his place in Tuchel’s starting line-up.

Kepa had starred in Chelsea’s narrow win over Al Hilal in the semi-final of the Club World Cup, saving all three shots he had to face.

His performance helped book the Blues’ place in Saturday’s final, where they came up against Brazilian side Palmerias.

With Kepa having performed so well in Mendy’s absence, it appeared that he was in line to once again start in goal.

That situation appeared especially likely to play out considering Mendy was only able to rejoin the Chelsea squad two days before the final.

Unfortunately for Kepa though, Tuchel opted to immediately restore the Senegal international to his line-up.

That saw the Spaniard drop to the bench, forced to watch on from the sidelines as Mendy helped the Blues to win their first Club World Cup title.

Cech admitted that the decision to drop Kepa was a harsh one, but explained that Mendy’s status as the first-choice keeper left little other option.

“We have top goalkeepers, they both perform on the top level this season,”