Chelsea were hit again by a familiar foe in today’s 2-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge to Manchester City.
Erling Haaland opened the scoring for the Champions, with his strength proving too much for the challenges of Marc Cucurella and Levi Colwill.
The striker now has six goals in his last four games against Chelsea including pre-season friendlies, and he was certainly not a player Enzo Maresca will have been looking to face in his first game as a Premier League manager.
Despite Haaland’s recent success rate, Robert Sanchez has had some joy keeping him out in the past.
The Norway international seems to have learnt from past moments though, telling Sky Sports Football that he had previously been irritated by the Spaniard staying on his line, and that helped him to score today.
Haaland noticed Sanchez stays on his line
He said: “I don’t know if you remember last year he had a great save on me, Sanchez. He always stays a lot on the line, so that’s why I took a couple extra touches and then he’s rushing out, and then I knew exactly what to do.
“I think it was a really good goal. I remember from last year he was irritating me for a long time, so that’s why I took a couple of extra touches and then yeah, perfect goal.”
Stamford Bridge not impressed by Sanchez
The goalkeeper situation at Stamford Bridge is one which is going to come under scrutiny this season, especially after the addition of Filip Jorgensen over the summer.
Sanchez didn’t have his best game by any means, with him likely disappointed that he wasn’t able to keep out Mateo Kovacic’s strike late on.
Romeo Lavia was seen berating Sanchez early in the second half after a misplaced pass that put Chelsea in trouble, and the confidence around the stadium was never high whenever he had his foot on the ball.
With a plethora of fixtures in a number of different competitions to come, there is a real opportunity for Jorgensen to make his way into the starting side.
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