Thomas Tuchel praises Kepa Arrizabalaga after Chelsea’s penalty shoot-out victory over Aston Villa

Thomas Tuchel has praised Kepa Arrizabalaga for his performance in the penalty shoot-out as he helped Chelsea advance to the fourth round of the Carabao Cup.

The Blues booked a place in the last 16 of the tournament with a 4-3 shoot-out win over Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge.

Kepa saved Marvelous Nakamba’s effort from the spot while Ashley Young struck the cross bar.

Kepa Arrizabalaga saved a penalty from Marvelous Nakamba during the penalty shoot-out

Chelsea edged through to the fourth round of the Carabao Cup with a 4-3 shoot-out victory

Reece James delivered the winning spot to save Ben Chilwell’s blushes after the England full-back also rattled the woodwork with his effort.

After the match, Tuchel said: ‘Kepa is very strong at penalties. He has good experiences in shoot-outs so we focused on that, and tried our best.

‘I’m happy the players kept their cool. It’s a nice win and I’m happy because it was a tough match, a hard cup fight, and it’s a good feeling to win.’ 

Timo Werner’s first goal in 11 Chelsea games broke the deadlock early in the second half.

Thomas Tuchel praised the performance of his goalkeeper after Chelsea’s victory

However, a thumping header from Villa’s 19-year-old striker Cameron Archer soon equalised and it remained 1-1 at full-time.  

‘It was a good game full of energy, good chances on both sides between two teams who tried everything to win,’ Tuchel said on the Chelsea website.

‘Aston Villa played very strong, like they did 10 days ago, and again today. We also did very good.

‘It was a nice game to watch, to be in the stadium for. This is also part of what we do, to have entertainment.

Reece James scored the decisive penalty after Aston Villa missed two spot-kicks

‘I’m happy because we won, it was a hard one, and now we have some competitive minutes in more players’ legs.’

Tuchel added: ‘We had many changes, the team had never played in this formation.

‘This needs a bit of time on the field, but it was important we don’t expect too much in terms of how we create chances.

‘We expected energy and teamwork, and this is what we got out of it, (as) with every minute we got more confident.’

Kepa added another shoot-out success to his UEFA Super Cup final exploits in coming off the bench to edge out Villarreal on spot-kicks in Belfast in August. 

Kepa was also the hero for Chelsea during their shoot-out win over Villarreal in August