Enzo Maresca makes decision on £20million Chelsea star after howler against Manchester United

Enzo Maresca has made a decision on whether to drop Robert Sanchez after the Chelsea goalkeeper’s poor performance against Manchester United.

Sanchez has endured a tough time since moving to Stamford Bridge from Brighton in the summer of 2023 for £20million.

In his first season, he kept just three clean sheets in 16 Premier League games before struggling with injury and losing his No.1 spot to Djordje Petrovic.

Maresca gave him a second chance for this campaign but the Spaniard has made a number of high profile mistakes, with the latest coming in the 1-1 draw at Old Trafford on Sunday.

He gifted United a penalty after clumsily hacking down Rasmus Hojlund and was subsequently sent the wrong way from the spot by Bruno Fernandes.

Moises Caicedo’s stunning equaliser spared Sanchez’s blushes, but the keeper is now the league leader in penalties conceded and only Ipswich’s Arijanet Muric has more errors leading to goal.

Chelsea spent £20.5m on Filip Jorgensen last summer, with the thinking that he would challenge and potentially replace Sanchez in the starting XI, with the young Dane comfortable on the ball, a key asset to Maresca’s style of play.

But despite Sanchez’s struggles, the Telegraph report that the manager and club retain full faith in the 26-year-old and will persist with him in the first-choice line-up.

Relatively young for a goalkeeper, the Blues believe he will greatly improve as he matures and will remain in-between the sticks when they host fierce rivals Arsenal on Sunday.

Before then, Chelsea host Armenian side Noah in the Conference League on Thursday night, with Jorgensen, 22, likely to start having played all of the club’s cup games so far.

Notably, the Dane’s stats are not so different from his teammate’s, with seven goals conceded in six games and two clean sheets, compared to Sanchez with 12 conceded in 10 games and also two clean sheets.

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