Cambridge University Ph.D. graduate and goalkeeping expert John Harrison has broken down Edouard Mendy's start to life at Chelsea while looking at how he compares to Kepa in goal:
"While Mendy’s not been able to reproduce his #Ligue1 performance levels, he’s still improved Chelsea dramatically as he’s performed at an average PL GK’s level while Kepa was costing #CFC ~3 goals every 7 games!
"Shot stopping: Mendy has been far superior to Kepa in this regard. His quick footwork & excellent body shape in the dive means he can cover a huge amount of goal area.
"He’s likely not matched his Ligue1 numbers due to giving away a few cheap goals due to poor positioning.
"Cross claiming: Again Mendy has been far superior to Kepa but has not reproduced his Ligue1 numbers.
"From watching every action he’s made so far this year it seems that in general, he has been more cautious as he doesn’t yet seem 100% relaxed nor 100% confident at Chelsea.
"Through ball sweeping: This is the only area where Mendy is performing worse than Kepa.
"This is due to 2 poor decisions that turned low probability chances into high probability chances. Ideally, Mendy would’ve held his ground in these situations & not sold himself."
"Mendy has somewhat solved Chelsea’s goalkeeping problem however he is only performing at the level expected for an average PremierLeague goalkeeper.
"It is important to note that there is potential for improvement but currently he doesn’t seem like a world-beater."
Although the assessment doesn't quite see Mendy as a world-class keeper, his numbers for the Blues have certainly been top-notch.
So far, the 28-year-old has conceded only 17 goals in 25 games for the Blues.
One of the reasons for his solid numbers, however, is also because he's only facing 2.4 shots on target per game - the lowest average of his career.
