Liam Rosenior says he decided to drop goalkeeper Robert Sanchez for Chelsea’s crucial Premier League clash against Aston Villa due to 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 as an alternative starting the impressive 4-1 win.
Chelsea trailed through Douglas Luiz’s early opener but were ahead by the half-time interval because of two goals from Joao Pedro.
Cole Palmer added a 3rd shortly after half-time before Pedro accomplished his hat-trick and put the sport 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 vary his No. 1 for the trip to Villa, Rosenior said: ‘Rob [Sanchez] is an impressive goalkeeper.
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‘I just saw Filip [Jorgensen] in training and sometimes as a manager you’ve got to go together with your gut.
‘Filip gave us something different and they’ll each be fighting it out for the remaining of the season.’
Discussing Chelsea’s emphatic win, Rosenior added: ‘We knew coming into the sport when it comes to the season and what we wish to attain that it was an enormous game.
‘The team stepped up. I believed it was an impressive team performance. Obviously, Joao will get the plaudits and rightly so but a few of our possession play, our incision, pressing, our energy, our commitment to defend was top but it surely must proceed.
‘We began the sport really, really, well after which they rating through a unbelievable finish.
‘We’ve had a couple of setbacks, but we’ve spoken quite a bit as a gaggle in a positive way and we definitely showed that tonight.’
Pedro, meanwhile, was delighted to register his first Chelsea hat-trick because the Blues gave an outstanding response to a disappointing derby defeat to Arsenal.
‘I believe it’s a special night for me,’ he told TNT Sports. ‘I used to be waiting for this moment.
‘I work quite a bit to be ready for this moment and I even have great players around me so I attempt to all the time be in the correct place and today I could rating three goals.
‘In the entire season we attempt to be consistent but have dropped too many points at home but now we want to look forward and do our greatest 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 primary half,’ Emery said. ‘The match was equal within the result and so tight but they were playing higher than us.
‘After they scored their third goal that they had complete confidence within the match. We tried but it surely was not enough.
‘We are actually in a foul moment. Chelsea are so blissful and deserved to win. The consistency may be very vital but now we aren’t being consistent.
‘In 29 matches we’ve been higher than them but not today. Now we’ve to search out solutions and get well our confidence and good form.’
Chelsea face Championship side Wrexham within the FA Cup on Saturday while Aston Villa’s next fixture is a Europa League knockout game against Lille.
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