Chelsea goalkeeper Willy Cabellero ready to step up in EFL Cup Final to stop former club Man City

Eyes of the prize: Willy Caballero
Getty Images
Simon Johnson22 February 2019

Willy Caballero has told Chelsea coach Maurizio Sarri he is ready to step up in Kepa Arrizabalaga’s absence and help beat former club Manchester City in the EFL Cup Final.

Chelsea’s first-choice keeper Kepa is a major doubt for the showpiece occasion on Sunday having suffered a hamstring injury.

The Spain international, who joined for a world-record £71.6m fee from Athletic Club last summer, is in a race against time to recover.

Caballero played in his absence last night as Chelsea defeated Malmo 3-0 in the Europa League and the 37-year-old is confident he can fill the void.

The Argentina international has made seven appearances for Chelsea this term and 20 overall since joining as a free agent from City in 2017.

He said: “I don't know how Kepa is today. I am behind him (in the pecking order), but if he cannot play I am ready.

“I did it (played against City) in the Community Shield. It was a big surprise to hear all the supporters from City remind me. It's going to be another great situation for me.

“I will always really appreciate Manchester City for giving me the opportunity to play in England.”

Caballero was on the bench at Etihad Stadium earlier this month when City handed Chelsea their record Premier League defeat by hammering them 6-0.

It means Pep Guardiola’s side are strong favourites to lift the League Cup, but Caballero believes Chelsea are in the right frame of mind to cause an upset.

Getty Images

He added: “For sure it's going to be different. It doesn't matter the score last time – it does matter what we did, what we did wrong.

“Also we can't forget we won against them at Stamford Bridge (in December). So we have one fantastic game against them, another horrendous game. In this case it's a final. We have to play as a final, every single ball from the first minute.

“We have done a lot of team talks after a lot of bad results, but we just needed to win against Malmo to recover our feelings. Hopefully after this victory we'll go to Wembley with new sensations.

“They have improved a lot (since I left). But it is just a question of victories and results. They started last season winning in the first minute of the first half almost every game and they grow up with a lot of confidence for the strikers and the midfielders.

“It is easy to run when you are top of the League. Of course they are better because they won trophies last season. It’s going to be a tough game, we are going to have to work hard.”

The contest could have a major say in Sarri’s future with the Italian under pressure to keep his job.

Striker Olivier Giroud admits he has found the constant uncertainty surrounding the coach at Chelsea hard to adapt to after leaving Arsenal.

The France striker, who played under Arsene Wenger throughout his six seasons at Arsenal, is facing the prospect of playing under a third different manager at Stamford Bridge in 13 months having already seen Antonio Conte fired.

In Pictures | Chelsea vs Malmo | 21/02/19

1/33

When asked if the situation was weird for him, the forward replied: “Yes - as you said it's a different arrangement, a different club. I played five-and-a-half years for Arsenal with the same coach.

“That's part of life, part of the job. Sometimes you have to adapt yourself for this kind of event. We are professional, we are football players. We need always to step up, no matter what happens. We need to stick together.

“We expect a tough game at Wembley, but it's a cup game, it's a final, so we need to get through, start on the front foot.

“We know their quality and we need momentum now. A win would be amazing for us, for the confidence. After that we have another big game against Tottenham on Wednesday. Game by game we need to come back and get some confidence back.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in