John Obi Mikel tells Chelsea to replace £25m star who was ‘all over the place’ against Arsenal | Football

John Obi Mikel has implored Chelsea to bring in a ‘top goalkeeper’ in the summer as the club will find it ‘impossible’ to win a Premier League title with Robert Sanchez as their number one.

Chelsea signed Sanchez from Brighton in a deal worth £25million back in 2023 and the 28-year-old has gone on to make 98 appearances between the sticks for the Blues.

A string of costly errors led Enzo Maresca to drop Sanchez for Filip Jorgensen midway through last season, only for the latter to hand the gloves back to the Spaniard with some less-than-convincing performances of his own.

Sanchez sent out a message of intent with a strong showing throughout Chelsea’s triumphant Club World Cup campaign last summer, which saw the 28-year-old return to west London with the Golden Gloves award.

However, a series of shaky displays across another concerning dip in form, perhaps most notably in Chelsea’s 2-1 defeat to Arsenal, have seen further asked of Sanchez’s long-term future at Stamford Bridge.

Though Sanchez got down well to deny Eberechi Eze late on in Sunday’s derby, the former Brighton man was in no man’s land for both of Arsenal goals through William Saliba and Jurrien Timber, which both came from corners.

Obi Mikel has voiced his doubts about Sanchez in the past and criticised Chelsea for failing to sign Gianluigi Donnarumma before Manchester City snapped up the Italian shot-stopper last summer.

Reflecting on Chelsea’s latest setback at Arsenal on The Obi Wan Podcast, a visibly irate Obi Mikel said: ‘If you asked me now if I see Chelsea winning the Premier League in the next two or three years… absolutely not! Absolutely not.

‘I don’t see us winning the title in the next two or three years, not to even talk about the goalkeeper that we have.

‘So many times, we’ve talked about it. And not just me, every f***ing pundit all around the f***ing world knows that, yes, he does make saves here and there and sometimes you forget about it.

‘But no, to win a title, to win Premier Leagues, you need a dependable goalkeeper.’

According to Obi Mikel, Chelsea have to upgrade their goalkeeper if they are to close the gap on the likes of Arsenal and Manchester City next season.

‘Look at the top two teams right now in the Premier League: Donnarumma, the saves that he makes, ridiculous saves… and David Raya, Arsenal wouldn’t be where they are today without him, mark my words,’ the ex-Chelsea and Nigeria midfielder added.

‘We can talk about William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes, all the cheat codes and the set-pieces, but David Raya, my word, the saves that he makes… absolutely brilliant, absolutely superb goalkeeper and he’s only getting better. Week in, week out I watch David Raya and he’s getter better and better, better and better.

‘You need a top, top goalkeeper to win titles and right now, Chelsea Football Club, we do not have a top goalkeeper to go out there and compete to win the Premier League. We do not have that.’

Obi Mikel felt Sanchez was ‘all over the place’ against Arsenal and a far cry from some of the club’s great goalkeepers of the past like Petr Cech, who he played alongside for nine seasons.

‘I watched the game the other day and he was all over the f***ing place,’ the two-time Premier League winner explained.

‘He was giving the ball away, putting the team in dangerous situations, inviting pressure onto us, kicking the ball away, giving the ball to Arsenal. He was all over the gaff, all over the place!

‘I was watching it thinking, “How the hell are we going to win the Premier League like this with this goalkeeper?!”, it’s impossible.

‘During our time, we had one of the best, the most dependable goalkeepers in Petr Cech. Week in, week out you look at your goalkeeper and you know you’ve got a brilliant goalkeeper, a top goalkeeper who can make saves, win you games, win you titles.

‘We had it and it’s something we don’t have now.’

Sixth-placed Chelsea will hope to get their top-four push back on track when they return to Premier League action away to fellow Champions League hopefuls Aston Villa.

Victory at Villa Park this evening would see Chelsea leapfrog Liverpool into fifth and move to within three points of Unai Emery’s men in the table.

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