Football news - Sarri handled Kepa fallout well but it's all change for Chelsea next season

With a man of the match performance, Kepa Arrizabalaga did more than perhaps anyone else to ensure Chelsea made the short trip home from Craven Cottage with all three points intact.

While one of these teams seems certain for relegation, and the other is battling to make it into Europe, there was very little difference in quality between them on the well-watered baize of SW6's other stadium on Sunday lunchtime.

It was difficult to tell how much was due to The Scott Parker Effect: the ex-Chelsea (and Tottenham, and West Ham, and Charlton) man afforded major improvement for the Whites, though there was always expected to be at the very least a 'dead cat bounce' effect.

And it was equally tricky to identify how much was down to The Maurizio Sarri Effect: Chelsea again looking less than the sum of their parts, in what was a far tougher derby day than the league table suggested should be the case.

One of these teams can claim the runaway worst defence in the Premier League. The problem for Sarri was that it was tricky, at times, to identify which.

The Italian was forced into a rare rotation – the second time in a week he had switched his keeper.

That 'misunderstanding' at Wembley, as it shall forever be referred to by those following the Stamford Bridge script, saw Willy Caballero finally get his place in the sun against Spurs on Wednesday night.

At the culmination of the 2-0 win, one of the Blues' few truly great results of the season, the Argentine looked as elated as he had been deflated on the National Stadium sidelines three days earlier.

In reality, his emphatic applauding of the crowd was the most action his palms had received all evening: we'll never know if Mauricio Pochettino had identified a weakness in the Chelsea goal, as his side never really deigned to test it.

But the stand-in was back to his place on the bench at Craven Cottage: and the man behind the (alleged) mutiny was allowed to take up his regular posting.

Afterwards, we learned Sarri had considered dropping Kepa for the season – in response to his Brent-based misdemeanour.

"With another man," he said, that would have been an outcome – before adding that with this one "I knew it wasn't the right decision".

For 'another man' read 'one who didn't cost the club £72m' – Chelsea simply can't leave motors that pricey rusting in the garage.

For all the talk about 'player power' and Sarri confronting it: there was very little of that in action this week.

The 24-year-old's moment of defiance on the big stage was so roundly criticised by all-comers that he seemed almost bashful in accepting his short stint on the sidelines.

For Sarri's part: the situation, after the chaos of the spectacle itself, had been well-handled: minimal face lost on all sides, and let's never speak of this moment again.

But there is still the feeling the bulk of Chelsea's fractured camp is accepting of this situation mainly because they know exactly how short-term it is.

Sarri has done enough to stay in place until the season's end. But any more than that seems highly unlikely from here: barring some unexpected rise up the table – the likes of which seemed pretty remote during their slender win by the Thames.

All parties will continue to make the best of what they have right now. But it feels very much like most are making plans for next season which look very different to what's in place right now.