Liam Rosenior says he dropped Chelsea star after ‘gut feeling in training’ | Football

Liam Rosenior says he decided to drop goalkeeper Robert Sanchez for Chelsea’s crucial Premier League clash against Aston Villa because of a ‘gut feeling in training’.

Sanchez has attracted much criticism for his performances at Stamford Bridge and struggled again in Chelsea’s 2-1 defeat to Arsenal on Sunday.

Rosenior opted to take Sanchez out of the firing line for Chelsea’s trip to Villa Park on Wednesday night, with Filip Jorgensen instead starting the impressive 4-1 win.

Chelsea trailed through Douglas Luiz’s early opener but were ahead by the half-time interval thanks to two goals from Joao Pedro.

Cole Palmer added a third shortly after half-time before Pedro completed his hat-trick and put the game to bed just after the hour mark.

The emphatic win sends Chelsea back above Liverpool into fifth-place, three points behind Manchester United and Aston Villa in third and fourth respectively.

Explaining why he decided to change his No. 1 for the trip to Villa, Rosenior said: ‘Rob [Sanchez] is an outstanding goalkeeper.

‘I just saw Filip [Jorgensen] in training and sometimes as a manager you have to go with your gut.

‘Filip gave us something different and they will both be fighting it out for the rest of the season.’

Discussing Chelsea’s emphatic win, Rosenior added: ‘We knew coming into the game in terms of the season and what we want to achieve that it was a big game.

‘The team stepped up. I thought it was an outstanding team performance. Obviously, Joao will get the plaudits and rightly so but some of our possession play, our incision, pressing, our energy, our commitment to defend was top but it needs to continue.

‘We started the game really, really, well and then they score through a fantastic finish.

‘We’ve had a few setbacks, but we’ve spoken a lot as a group in a positive way and we definitely showed that tonight.’

Pedro, meanwhile, was delighted to register his first Chelsea hat-trick as the Blues gave a superb response to a disappointing derby defeat to Arsenal.

‘I think it is a special night for me,’ he told TNT Sports. ‘I was waiting for this moment.

‘I work a lot to be ready for this moment and I have great players around me so I try to always be in the right place and today I could score three goals.

‘In the whole season we try to be consistent but have dropped too many points at home but now we need to look forward and do our best every game.’

Aston Villa boss Unai Emery admitted his team were ‘dominated’ by their top-four rivals and said it was crucial to ‘find solutions’ after suffering back-to-back defeats.

‘We competed but they dominated more in the first half,’ Emery said. ‘The match was equal in the result and so tight but they were playing better than us.

‘After they scored their third goal they had complete confidence in the match. We tried but it was not enough.

‘We are now in a bad moment. Chelsea are so happy and deserved to win. The consistency is very important but now we are not being consistent.

‘In 29 matches we have been better than them but not today. Now we have to find solutions and recover our confidence and good form.’

Chelsea face Championship side Wrexham in the FA Cup on Saturday while Aston Villa’s next fixture is a Europa League knockout game against Lille.

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