Jamie Carragher said Chelsea must replace Kepa Arrizabalaga to challenge for titles as he made comparisons with Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool.
Chelsea suffered a 5-3 defeat to Liverpool yesterday and have now dropped to fourth place amid the heated race for Champions League spots.
Interestingly, if we look at expected goals data, Chelsea had the better chances in that game despite the scoreline.
Frank Lampard’s men had expected goals of 2.52, while Liverpool had just 1.55.
The significant difference between the xG data and the actual score-line can be attributed to the types of goal Liverpool scored, which include Naby Keita’s screamer and Trent Alexander-Arnold’s free-kick.
Kepa Arrizabalaga, who is expected to stop these long-range attempts, failed to do so and Liverpool icon Carragher believes Chelsea have to find a better No.1 in order to improve.
He told Sky Sports (quoted by the Metro): “Chelsea won’t go no further unless they change their goalkeeper.
“Going back to how important goalkeepers are, I look at this Chelsea team and there’s a lot I like about it, it does remind me in a lot of ways the position Jurgen Klopp was in a couple of years ago.
“He’s done as much as he can, yes Frank’s still in his early stages but those big signings can completely transform you as a team.
“I still think Chelsea need a defender, you see how many goals they’ve conceded. I think a lot of that is down to the goalkeeper being totally honest.”
The former England international also said that, despite having several centre-back options, none of them have really stood out this season.
He highlighted the Blues have been the worst side in the league in defending corner-kicks and said it is a “big problem” for Chelsea.
“Yes, Werner is coming in and the lad from Ajax, there is talk of Havertz as well,” he added.
“It sounds great and it gets supporters excited but it means nothing if you don’t sort out that back three and certainly that goalkeeper.”