'Sanchez will undermine everything they do'

Questions remain over Robert Sanchez, who allowed Josh King's low strike to go straight through him for Fulham's equaliser and then tamely parried Timothy Castagne's shot into a dangerous area for Gonzalo Garcia to head in from close range to set up a nervy finish at Craven Cottage.

"They have strengthened in every position of the pitch but you cannot take a chance on goalkeepers," said ex-Manchester United defender Gary Neville on Sky Sports.

"It's the most difficult position on the pitch, it's the one that carries the most scrutiny.

"If you have got a goalkeeper who's making mistakes and is anxious, it will undermine everything you're trying to do. It's a problem."

There was nowhere to hide for Sanchez.

King's equaliser in the 23rd minute had an expected goals on target (xGoT) value of just 0.05, making it the lowest-rated shot to result in a goal during the opening weekend of the Premier League season.

In other words, Sanchez really should have saved it.

He did make a number of other saves, but he also conceded a corner after failing to clear the ball before it ran out of play and was later unconvincing when coming off his line to deal with a long ball, with Antonee Robinson missing the target to let him off the hook.

While Xabi Alonso defended his goalkeeper after the game, in his pre-match news conference he said: "The pitch is the boss of everything. I don't decide. The players need to show me."

That message applied to his goalkeepers - Sanchez and 21-year-old number two Mike Penders, who is waiting to make his debut after returning from a successful loan spell at Strasbourg.

With the transfer window still open, many Chelsea fans will be asking whether the club need a new first-choice goalkeeper.

As former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher said on Sky Sports: "They have to sort the goalkeeping issue out because it's going to come back and haunt them again this season."