Xabi Alonso's Goakeeper Admission Hints Who Chelsea's New Number One Will Be

Chelsea started their season with a 3-2 win over west London neighbours Fulham at Craven Cottage on Monday.

It was Alonso’s first official match as Chelsea manager, and a goal apiece from the front three, Cole Palmer, Morgan Rogers, and Joao Pedro, ensured their Premier League opener ended in a win.

Unfortunately, the game also highlighted Chelsea’s defensive vulnerabilities, which have been an issue under Alonso.

Chelsea struggled to keep a clean sheet throughout the pre-season, managing to do so once in six friendlies, against AC Milan.

Even so, poor goalkeeping played a bigger part in Chelsea’s defensive shortcomings against Fulham than any tactical holes in Alonso's system.

As expected, Alonso decided to start Sanchez in goal for the opening game of the season. After all, the Spaniard has the Premier League experience Penders lacks.

Sanchez, unfortunately, failed to repay the faith the manager showed in him.

Chelsea still conceded as many shots on target (six) as they attempted in this game, but the quality of chances differed quite significantly.

For Fulham’s first goal, Sanchez was beaten by Joshua King at the near post by what should have been a routine save.

Opta values King’s shot at 0.067 xG. In other words, the young midfielder was estimated to have a 6.7 per cent chance of scoring from that opportunity. Yet, it went in.

Later in the second half, Sanchez was in a good position to stop Timothy Castagne’s left-footed strike. He got down in time, but could only parry the ball directly at Gonzalo Garcia, who was not going to miss from point-blank range.

Opta considers it an error leading to a goal, deservedly so.

Alonso jumped to Sanchez’s defence after the game, refusing to blame any individuals.

“It's about the team, it's not about the individual,” the Chelsea boss said in his post-match press conference when asked about Sanchez’s poor performance.

“As I said before, we can adjust a few things. The first goal, we can do better to defend, we can do better to avoid, but it's part of the game.

“We need to accept and to learn from them, and this is going to be a process.”

Sanchez just gave Alonso more reasons to give Penders an opportunity

Alonso’s decision to defend Sanchez might have been the right approach. Chelsea still won in the end, and pointing fingers at certain players is not helpful just one game into the season.

However, it would not be a surprise if Sanchez’s nervy display might have slightly tipped the scales in Penders' favour amid competition for the number one spot.

Asked about the competition between the goalkeepers a few days ago, Alonso made it very clear: “We want healthy competition in all the positions. We will see.

“The pitch is the boss of everything. I don't decide. The players need to show me.”

Penders may soon have his chance to prove himself on the pitch.

Alonso is expected to significantly rotate his team for the Carabao Cup second-round tie against Luton Town on Thursday. This will likely include the goalkeeper spot.

If Penders shows a strong performance against Luton, he will probably be closer to making his first Premier League start and getting ahead of Sanchez in the pecking order.