How good (or how bad) is Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez?

In the 2021/22 season, Sanchez conceded 42 goals when he was expected to concede about 41, this is not noteworthy. However, last season (2022/23), the Chelsea keeper lost his place to Jason Steele, and it’s not particularly surprising, as he conceded 30 goals in 23 games, where he was reasonably expected to concede about 24. This means Sanchez was almost directly responsible for six goals either by goalkeeping error, or poor positioning. Again, 24 expected goals against in 23 games is not bad for Brighton, but they conceded way more because of Sanchez.

Last season was by far Sanchez’s worst season as a Premier League keeper, but this season, after 13 games, he is on a similar save rate for Chelsea, 64% to last season’s 62%, and has already conceded 2.8 goals more than he was expected to, compared to the same figure last season but after 10 more games. This suggests that it would not be surprising if Sanchez has conceded maybe five or six more goals than expected by his 23rd league game this season.

It should be mentioned, that Chelsea’s defense is not good this season, as they are expected to concede 1.32 goals per game, which is quite bad, but Sanchez in goal has meant they have conceded even more (1.54) than that. To his credit, Sanchez has always been very good at claiming crosses, which goes a long way in snuffing out attacks. He has entered the 90th percentile for percentage of crosses claimed twice in last three full seasons, one of which was the 98th percentile. He’s in the 80th percentile this season.

In conclusion, is Robert Sanchez an elite Premier League goalkeeper who should be starting every week for CFC? The numbers suggest not, but that remains to be seen. Is he the reason the Blues are conceding so many goals? No. Is he helping the situation of a struggling defense? Unfortunately not. So how good is Sanchez? He’s OK, but he can be upgraded on relatively easily.