Kepa Arrizabalaga is now in his fifth year as a Chelsea player, having moved to Stamford Bridge from Athletic Bilbao in 2018, and is edging towards 150 appearances for the club, having seemingly secured the spot as Graham Potter’s preferred choice between the posts even before Edouard Mendy was ruled out by injury.

Brazilian international Alisson Becker joined Liverpool from Roma in the same summer as Kepa moved to England, although having been the undisputed No1 throughout his time at Anfield he passed the 200-game milestone for the Reds earlier this season.

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Shot stopping

This season’s statistics are slightly skewed by the fact Kepa shared goalkeeping duties with Mendy earlier in the campaign, meaning Alisson has played 1,620 minutes of Premier League action compared to Kepa’s 945, but with both having faced a shot on target around once every 20 minutes in that competition, comparisons can still be made.

It is in this area that Kepa’s numbers are impressive, as while they are similar in the number of saves – the Spaniard producing one every 25 minutes and Alisson every 26 minutes – it is the Chelsea man who is averaging less than one goal conceded per game. While the Liverpool keeper has had to pick the ball out of the back of the net every 65 minutes in the Premier League, for Kepa it is only once every 105 minutes.

Commanding the area

While their success at dealing with balls into the box is similar, the statistics show a slightly different approach to those situations.

Kepa is clearly the more likely to catch high balls, as despite his fewer minutes on the pitch he has one more catch than his opponent (seven to six), while Alisson is marginally ahead when it comes to punching the ball clear (six to five). Kepa’s seeming willingness to try and catch probably explains why he has been fouled three times by an opponent, compared to just once for Alisson.

They remain closely matched even when under pressure claiming the ball, too, with both having competed in five aerial duels, coming out on top in four of them. However, with the ball on the floor, Kepa has attempted to tackle an opponent twice, winning possession on both occasions, whereas Alisson is yet to make his first successful tackle this season.

Distribution

With both goalkeepers comfortable with the ball at their feet and representing teams which like to play out from the back, it is unsurprising to see the two neck and neck when it comes to passing.

Kepa averages 30.1 passes played per game in the Premier League, with Alisson almost identical at 29.9. It doesn’t get much different when looking at the type of passes either, with Kepa averaging 9.5 long passes to Alisson’s 9.6, and 20.6 short passes to 20.2.

Alisson slightly edges it for accuracy, as 81.8 per cent of his passes found a team-mate compared to 80.7 per cent of Kepa’s, and unlike the Chelsea goalkeeper, the Brazilian impressively has a Premier League assist to his name in 2022/23.