Chelsea should be relieved Thibaut Courtois forced a move out of the club to join Real Madrid in the summer after his forgettable performance for Belgium against Switzerland on Sunday evening.

The goalkeeper had to pick the ball out of the net on five occasions as they Swiss came from two goals down to beat the World Cup semifinalists 5-2 in Lucerne in their UEFA Nations League encounter.

Although poor defending was very much to blame for the humiliating loss by Roberto Martinez's team, Courtois looked disorientated on a few occasions, leading to Haris Seferovic scoring a hat-trick for the home side.

The 26-year-old started the season as second fiddle to Keylor Navas at Madrid but gained his way into the first-team for much of the league games. But Courtois has suffered in a struggling Madrid setup that is currently in sixth position in the La Liga, while they were dealt a humiliating 5-1 derby loss to Barcelona at the end of last month.

Chelsea, on the other hand, looked to have benefited from the controversial transfer that saw Courtois being absent from Maurizio Sarri's pre-season training, in an attempt to force the club to let him leave for Spain. But after finding a suitable, and expensive, replacement in Kepa Arrizabalaga, the Blues have had a tremendous start to the season.

Sarri's charges are yet to lose a match in all competitions with many players getting back to their best form. Arrizabalaga, in particular, has fitted into the Chelsea setup with relative ease, starting in all of the Europa League and Premier League matches so far.

The 24-year-old has also been helped by the defensive structure that Sarri has formed around Antonio Rudiger and David Luiz, who have complemented each other really well. Arrizabalaga has had to make a number of excellent saves, showing his true potential as one of the brightest up and coming keepers in Europe.

Chelsea have looked organised and solid in defence, very much to the credit of Arrizabalaga's arrival, compared to last season where Courtois was exposed quite often that led to an Antonio Conte team finishing outside of the top four.