Chelsea's Sanchez among world's best keepers, says data

Robert Sanchez joined Chelsea from Brighton in 2023

While Chelsea's goalkeeping position has been a source of debate for fans in recent seasons, new data suggests supporters should have nothing to worry about.

Since Edouard Mendy lost his place and left the Blues for Al-Ahli in 2023, the opinions of who is the right man to have in goal have differed.

Enzo Maresca this season has opted to back Robert Sanchez, sending previous first-teamers Kepa Arrizabalaga and Djordje Petrovic out on loan.

Some fans have been critical of the 27-year-old Spaniard, who has made the joint-highest number of errors (five) leading to goals in this season's Premier League.

But according to the CIES Football Observatory Index, which ranks the top 100 goalkeepers in the world, Chelsea have three inside the top 20.

Sanchez is sixth - and the second-highest ranked Premier League goalkeeper behind Brentford's Mark Flekken.

CIES uses methodology to take into account the level of games played, the results of matches, and the deviation in the percentage of saves at domestic league level compared to the expected value.

Another benefit for Maresca is the options that could be coming back to Stamford Bridge.

Petrovic, 25, is playing at Ligue 1 side Strasbourg and just misses out on the top 10, with a score of 82.1 ranking him 11th.

The Serbia international played 31 times last season for Chelsea and will hope his strong performances in France are not going unnoticed.

Kepa is the world's most expensive goalkeeper after moving to the Blues in 2018 from his boyhood club Athletic Bilbao for £71m.

The 30-year-old, who joined Bournemouth in August on loan, joins Sanchez and Petrovic in the world's top 20, scoring 80.8 to put him 17th.

The index includes the top 100 goalkeepers to have played a minimum of 20 league matches over the past 365 days.

Paris St-Germain's Gianluigi Donnarumma has been named the world's top-ranked goalkeeper, with Inter Milan's Yann Sommer and Real Madrid's Thibaut Courtois making up the top three.

Top 20 - full list

Gianluigi Donnarumma (Paris St-Germain): 95.5

Yann Sommer (Inter Milan): 91.7

Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid): 88.0

Stanislav Agkatsev (Krasnodar): 87.4

Mark Flekken (Brentford): 85.9

Robert Sanchez (Chelsea): 84.1

Peter Gulacsi (RB Leipzig): 83.9

Joao Ricardo (Fortaleza EC): 83.7

Moritz Nicolas (Borussia Monchengladbach): 83.3

Robin Zentner (Mainz 05): 82.2

Djordje Petrovic (Strasbourg): 82.1

Evgeniy Latyshonok (Zenit): 81.7

Lucas Perri (Lyon): 81.6

Remko Pasveer (Ajax): 81.6

John McCarthy (Los Angeles Galaxy): 81.2

Davy Roef (Gent): 80.9

Kepa Arrizabalaga (Bournemouth): 80.8

Weverton Pereira (Palmeiras): 80.6

Kasper Schmeichel (Celtic): 80.6

Fernando Muslera (Galatasaray): 80.1