Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel has lavished praise on backup keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga.

The Blues have to play their upcoming games without no.1 Edouard Mendy, as he is at the African Cup of Nations.

Kepa, however, has deputized admirably this season, and Tuchel has no doubt the Spaniard will keep the team's defence secure in the coming matches.

He told reporters ahead of the Carabao Cup semi-final against Tottenham on Wednesday: "I never experienced Kepa nervous. Never. Not one single day. I never experienced him jealous. I never experienced him being unhappy for his colleague. Of course, his big competition in goal but I never experienced him jealous or nervous.

"The good thing is that there was a very genuine trust once we needed him to play for us and once we let him play. I felt the same from him that he was very calm and focused. This is what he does every single day. I have the feeling that he felt he doesn't need to show it over 90 minutes that he is capable.

"We trust him and he is capable. It is not easy in his position because there's not a lot of changes in the goalkeeping position.

"We have him and we are so happy to have him. This is maybe the difference. There's no extra sentence or speech from me. There's no special stuff, it is genuine trust and we are just happy that he can show it because he will be ready to show it."