Chelsea fans think player should be sold immediately after performance in Fulham win

Xabi Alonso got off to a winning start as Chelsea boss, but fans still want one player sold despite the 3-2 win over Fulham at Craven Cottage.

The west London rivals put on a thrilling display for supporters as both Alonso and Alvaro Arbeloa got their first taste of Premier League football as head coaches.

The away side got off to a dream start as Joao Pedro finished past Bernd Leno just one minute in.

However, Josh King levelled things on 23 minutes as goalkeeper Robert Sanchez failed to deal with his long-range strike, a mistake the 28-year-old Spaniard will not want to watch back.

Alonso’s side regained the lead on 41 minutes as debutant Morgan Rogers slotted home Maxence Lacroix’s cutback.

And the Blues went 3-1 up on 49 minutes, this time thanks to Cole Palmer’s smart finish through Leno’s legs.

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Fulham pulled one back through summer arrival Gonzalo Garcia five minutes later, with the former Real Madrid forward nodding home Sanchez’s parried save.

Chelsea fans want player gone despite Fulham victory

Despite the positive result and attacking performance, several Chelsea fans have taken to social media urging Alonso to replace Sanchez as his first-choice goalkeeper after the shot-stopper’s two mistakes.

One fan said: “Why does every Chelsea manager keep choosing Robert Sánchez as the first-choice goalkeeper when the club has other options? You have to question what the coaches see in him. Chelsea keep giving Sánchez chance after chance, despite the constant mistakes and inconsistency. How many more errors do we need to see before they finally give the other goalkeepers a proper run?”

Another added: “Robert Sanchez is not Chelsea standard. His awareness, concentration and focus are consistently poor. Games that should be easy wins become difficult wins, games that should be wins end up as draws, and games that should be draws end up as losses. I'm tired of him. Sign Martinez.”

A third commented: “Would take the three points but we really need to kill this Chelsea habit of making games harder than they should be. We could’ve killed this off easily but individual mistakes struck again. Robert Sanchez is either 1/10 or 10/10, no in-between.”

While a fourth wrote: “Robert Sánchez is genuinely one of the worst goalkeepers I’ve ever seen play for a big club. I still don’t understand how this guy is Chelsea’s No. 1 goalkeeper.”

A fifth weighed in: “Chelsea have looked terrific tonight, especially their front 3, but if they’re going into the season with Robert Sanchez as their starting goalkeeper then that’s a huge mistake. He’s going to cost them so many points this season.”

Chelsea return to action on August 27 when they host Luton Town in the Carabao Cup second round before facing Brighton in the Premier League on August 30.