Morecambe bench shout ‘shoot’ when their players get within 40 yards of Kepa’s goal in FA Cup tie at Chelsea

It would appear Kepa Arrizabalaga’s reputation for the occasional goalkeeping howler precedes him.

In fact, even lower league teams are aware of this reputation and clearly think the best way to find a way past Kepa is simply to shoot as soon as one gets the ball.

This is what Morecambe appeared to do during Sunday’s FA Cup third-round clash at Stamford Bridge.

The world’s most expensive goalkeeper, who cost Chelsea £71.6million from Athletic Bilbao in 2018, was given a rare start against the League Two outfit – and nearly made his latest error just 11 minutes into the game.

He was almost caught out by a cross-come-shot from Adam Phillips on the right wing, but managed to recover by rushing back to his line and smothering the ball.

While Kepa’s positioning was not great and offered Phillips the opportunity to score, the Spain international’s recovery was, admittedly, superb.

But even such a brilliant save did not spare Kepa of taunts coming from the Morecambe camp.

Journalist Matt Law wrote on social media that the Morecambe bench shouted ‘shoot’ whenever their players got the ball within 40 yards of Kepa’s goal – making fun of his reputation for letting in goals rather easily.

He tweeted: “Lots of cries of ‘shoot’ from the Morecambe bench on the rare occasions they have got within 40 yards of Chelsea’s goal.

“It’s like they think the world’s most expensive goalkeeper might be a bit unreliable…”

Kepa has made three errors leading to goals in just four appearances this season.

He has been demoted to Chelsea’s second-choice goalkeeper following Edouard Mendy’s arrival from Rennes.

Chelsea went into half-time with a two-goal lead thanks to strikes from Mason Mount and Timo Werner, who scored for the first time in 13 matches, with Callum Hudson-Odoi adding a third shortly after the restart.