Crystal Palace have just scored an equaliser to make it 1-1 at Stamford Bridge, a crushing blow to a Chelsea after they went ahead and played so well in the first half.
The ball was never convincingly cleared from a set piece, and it eventually fell to the feet of Eberechi Eze, who was in acres of space on the edge of the box to bend it in.
That makes it 11 months without a clean sheet in the Premier League for goalkeeper Robert Sanchez. His last successful effort was at the start of October against Fulham, when we won 2-0 to arrest a worrying start to the season under Mauricio Pochettino. A lot of that time saw Sanchez injured and then losing his place to Djordje Petrovic – but let’s not forget he lost his place to Petrovic because he wasn’t playing very well.
That goal also made it 1 clean sheet in 5 games this season for Chelsea – and that one (against Servette in the Conference League) was pretty fortunate in itself.
Sanchez continues to struggle
Now it would be very fair to say there wasn’t much he could do about this particular goal. The finish from Eze was sublime, and even at a full length dive Sanchez couldn’t keep it out.
But we all know that goalkeeper is about more than just flying saves. Perhaps if Sanchez was more confident and dominant in his box at set pieces, the ball wouldn’t have ended up at the feet of Eze in such a great position to score.
In any case, even if you ignore today’s goal, the stats are really adding up here. Stats are hard to interpret, especially in football – but 11 months without a clean sheet is pretty self-explanatory, even without the full context. Must do better.
