Maresca hints he could DROP Robert Sanchez after the goalkeeper’s horror show

Enzo Maresca has raised the prospect of dropping Robert Sanchez after the Chelsea goalkeeper made another high-profile mistake in the defeat to Manchester City.

Sánchez erratically rushed out to gift Erling Haaland City's second of a 3-1 win, a result that moves the defending champions up to fourth in the Premier League.

The Spain international has made five mistakes that have contributed to goals so far this season and Maresca has already taken him out of the line of fire twice.

Filip Jorgensen picked up the gloves for wins over Southampton and Ipswich and could be in line to start when Chelsea host West Ham for a week on Monday.

“We certainly trust Robert, but at the same time he is aware that he makes mistakes,” Maresca said.

'We continue to trust Robert, but we still have a whole week, see the reaction and decide for the next matches.'

Maresca admitted ahead of the match that Sánchez is 'still far, far away from where I want him' and that the 27-year-old's long-term future appears under threat.

“Robert is certainly aware that he needs to do better,” the Chelsea boss added.

'He knows it perfectly. Right now it is. He is the first to know that things have to be better.'

Sánchez's blunder overshadowed a difficult debut for City's new £33million centre-half, Abdukodir Khusanov, whose unfortunate header set up Noni Madueke for an early opener.

The 20-year-old Uzbekistan international nervously gave away possession and was shown a yellow card for tripping Cole Palmer, with City's players protecting the youngster until he was substituted in the second half.

Pep Guardiola did not speak to Khusanov after the match due to their language barrier, but praised his teammates' reaction after the mistake in the second minute of the debut. Bernardo Silva rushed towards him immediately after the goal.

“He knows he made a mistake,” Guardiola said. 'He'll take a lesson. He's so young. It's not easy against these incredible Chelsea players.

“I loved the reaction of his friends. He will learn. I made the substitution for the yellow card he had, not the foul.

'We came back emotional. Maybe we weren't exceptional, we missed a bit with the high line – we didn't find players at the back (enough) – but the situation we are in, a 3-1 win against Chelsea and against a friend I admire, is very important .'

Another debutant, Eintracht Frankfurt's £59million forward Omar Marmoush, was impressive and earned praise from Haaland.

“I've seen him in the Bundesliga and watched him,” Haaland said. 'It will be fantastic to play with him. You can see that there is something special about it. I'm looking forward to playing with him and it's going to be really good.'

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