Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca has once again changed his preferred goalkeeper for tomorrow’s trip to Arsenal as the Italian hopes to gain ground on the Gunners’ second place spot in the Premier League.
The Spanish shotstopper was left out of the line-up for the Blues’ 1-0 win over Copenhagen at Stamford Bridge on Thursday night, which Maresca confirmed was to rest Sanchez ahead of tomorrow’s game.
Sanchez had fallen out of favour in the Premier League, being benched for four consecutive matches in favour of alternative Filip Jorgensen, before he won a recall against Leicester last Sunday.
“It will be Robert playing against Arsenal,” said Maresca. “Since we started the season the idea was not to change the keeper, but sometimes you have to be flexible with your ideas.
“We do this in the game plan, we do this in the way we want to attack, the way we want to defend but, also, we need to be flexible on players.
“Robert needs some days off, or at least to rest his head mentally, and now he is back and hopefully we are not going to change until the end of the season.”
Maresca said he hopes the changes can push his side forward and challenge Arsenal’s position near the summit.
“The gap between us and Arsenal is quite big,” said Maresca. “Because they have been working with the same manager for five years, with the same players they have already played with for some important games.
“But our target, our duty, is to close that gap between us and them. At this moment, the table says that the difference between us and them is six points, so we are quite close, but we still have nine games to go.
“The intention will be to control the play against Arsenal, but if we are able to do that or not, it depends a lot on the opponent.”