Antonio Conte has defended his decision to pick Thibaut Courtois as one of Chelsea's penalty takers against Arsenal, insisting the goalkeeper is one of the club's best at taking spot-kicks.
Courtois took Chelsea's second penalty in the Community Shield clash at Wembley on Sunday after the game finished 1-1 after normal time, but blazed his effort over the bar.
The game was the first time the 'ABBA' format has been used in England, which allows the first team to take a penalty - in this case Chelsea captain Gary Cahill, who scored - before alternating pairs of kicks are taken.
It was trialled in the Community Shield as part of the FA's plan to try and eliminate the advantage given to the first penalty taker, and seemed to work in Arsenal's favour as Courtois missed his effort before new Chelsea striker Alvaro Morata missed his to hand victory to the Gunners.
After the match, which comes just over two months after Chelsea were beaten by Arsenal here in the FA Cup final, Conte insisted it was natural to ask Courtois to take a penalty - and early on - because he is one of the club's best players.
The Chelsea manager said: "He is one of our best players to take a penalty.
"If your player shows you in training to be one of the best, you pick him to play and try and shoot a penalty.
"But don't forget [Alvaro] Morata is a forward and he did the same."
