Chelsea fans FUME as Maresca opens Pandora's box with ridiculous decision

Tom Weber

Updated: 14 Mar 2025 10:38 CDT
3 min read

Enzo Maresca has announced that Robert Sanchez will be reinstated as Chelsea's first-choice goalkeeper.

The Blues' season has been quite up and down. In recent weeks, it has certainly been more down than up, but the early stages of the campaign were a marked improvement on previous years.

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However, one of the big problems that has plagued Chelsea all season has been the goalkeeper department. Despite at one point having about half a dozen senior shot-stoppers on their books, the position has constantly given the Blues headaches.

Robert Sanchez started the campaign as the No.1 - just as he had done last season - but history repeated itself when he lost his place due to his repeated mistakes.

Under Mauricio Pochettino, Djordje Petrovic had replaced the Spaniard. However, he was shipped out on loan last summer due to his perceived problems in possession. Instead of the Serb, new signing Filip Jorgensen supplanted Sanchez.

But the Dane didn't cover himself in glory either as he made a howler against Aston Villa last month, which shone the spotlight on Chelsea's goalkeeper problem. Amid all of this drama, Petrovic has been quietly excellent at sister club Strasbourg in Ligue 1.

Maresca reinstates Sanchez

Now, Enzo Maresca has announced that Sanchez will be officially reinstated as Chelsea's No.1. The former Brighton man already started between the sticks against Leicester at the weekend and he will keep his place for Sunday's clash with Arsenal.

“Yes, it will be Robert to play against Arsenal," Maresca said after Chelsea beat Copenhagen in the Conference League. "Since we started, the idea was not to change goalkeepers, but sometimes you have to modify and be flexible.

"I think Robert needed some days off to at least rest his head mentally and now he’s back. Hopefully, we won’t have to change [again] until the end of the season, but I have said many times we are quite happy with both keepers.”

The response to these comments - at least on social media - has been overwhelmingly negative as Chelsea fans were the ones most vociferously calling for Sanchez to be axed in the first place.

One fan joked on X that it would be a 'moral victory' for Maresca if Sanchez were to 'concede fewer than three goals' against Arsenal. Others claimed that the real problem was Maresca rather than the goalkeepers.