Enzo Maresca was not exactly hard up for choice this summer when deciding who he would make his Chelsea No1.
When teenager Mike Penders signed from Genk in early August he joined a long list as the eighth goalkeeper on the club’s books, and while not all of those were serious contenders, the battle to be Maresca’s first-choice still at times felt closer to a Royal Rumble than a straight shootout.
In the end, though, the new manager settled on some sense of status quo, backing Robert Sanchez to start the campaign, just as Mauricio Pochettino had 12 months earlier. Only four games into the season, here on a bizarre night in Bournemouth, was vindication for the call.
For 86 minutes, Sanchez’s superb penalty save from Evanilson was - along with a promising debut from half-time substitute Jadon Sancho - just about all Maresca could take in terms of positives from an otherwise erratic Chelsea display. The Cherries had also hit the woodwork twice and even the goalless draw on offer at that stage would have sold their performance short.
But with superb feet and a sharp finish off the bench, Christopher Nkunku transformed the mood among the travelling core who had trekked to the south coast late on a Saturday night, and in turn trebled the value of his goalkeeper’s first-half heroics by securing a 1-0 win on the road.
The penalty incident rather summed up Chelsea’s feeble first-half display in the face of Andoni Iraola's daring side who, not for the first time this season, left the Vitality Stadium pitch miffed as to quite how they had failed to win.
Marc Cucurella and Moises Caicedo both lost out in the air, before Wesley Fofana sold his goalkeeper short with a horribly casual backpass of a bouncing ball that, even if executed properly, would have been awkward for Sanchez to clear. As it was, the keeper was stranded as Evanilson nipped in. Diving low to his left, though, to keep out the same forward’s effort, the Spaniard made amends for an error that was hardly his.
It was a big moment for a player whose Chelsea career has not yet quite taken off and who even now, you sense, may be a placeholder until Maresca finds the brand of goalkeeper he deems so vital to his style of play.
It was something of a surprise when, during pre-season, it became apparent that the former Brighton man would start the campaign as No1. He had missed the entire second half of last season through injury, with Djordje Petrovic impressive in his stead to become the soft incumbent. Kepa Arrizabalaga, back from Real Madrid, was packed off to Bournemouth on another loan and watched here from an executive box, ineligible to feature, but Filip Jorgensen’s arrival from Villarreal was designed to provide genuine competition. Still now, the 22-year-old waits in the wings for the first Sanchez slip.
There was no sign of it here, though, to Maresca’s great relief.
Sancho deserves first start as Neto gets up to speed
The form of Noni Madueke on Chelsea’s right wing has made the newly-capped England international immoveable in the early part of the season, meaning £54million summer signing Pedro Neto started on his unfavored left for the second league game in a row here.
As in the 1-1 draw against Crystal Palace just before the international break, the Portuguese looked physically sharp, his touch good and his movement bright.
Once in possession, though, the winger does not yet look the nightmarish proposition he proved when fit for Wolves, and with Cucurella already tasked with tucking into midfield from left-back, Neto’s natural inclination to come inside is leaving the Blues lopsided in attack. He was the first player sacrificed as Chelsea’s looked for a winner against Palace, not quite making it to the hour, and here was dragged off even earlier, replaced by debutant Sancho at half-time.
Maresca’s eagerness to get his marquee summer signing into his first-choice XI from the outset is understandable, particularly so given his injury record suggests periods of fitness should not be taken for granted.
But with Sancho providing more penetration in his first five minutes in a Chelsea shirt than Neto had in 45, then going on to set up Nkunku's winner, it would be a surprise were the Englishman not brought into the lineup for next Saturday’s trip to West Ham.
