Robert Sanchez has won the Castrol Save of the Month award for September after brilliantly keeping out Nicolo Zaniolo’s powerful volley at Stamford Bridge.
The Spaniard has arguably been Chelsea’s player of the season so far, making a number of crucial saves for his new side during the opening weeks of the 2023/24 campaign.
Sanchez’s best stop to date following his £25m arrival from Brighton Hove & Albion came during the Blues’ recent clash with Aston Villa, who are continuing the fine form they showed under Unai Emery last season.
Reacting brilliantly to a venomous volley from Zaniolo, Sanchez was able to divert the Italian international’s effort over the crossbar from point-blank range – a save that kept the scores level in west London.
Upon receipt of his award, Sanchez said: “It’s a personal trophy, an amazing feeling, but now it’s time to get some team awards as well, hopefully.
“It was a game with a lot of saves to make, I think I had a similar one like five minutes before that one, left footer, volley. I was just getting ready for a similar shot and there was a lot of bodies in the way as well. So I just got ready to try and see the ball and react to it.”
The 25-year-old also alluded to the need for immediate refocusing in the game, adding: “It feels amazing, it’s another top save, but it’s a cross so we need to ger ready for the next corner again. So, clap a couple of hands and get set again, keep concentrating, making the saves when I have to, helping the team.
“We had a rough start, but we’re finding ourselves now, we’re doing really good. Quite a lot of clean sheet as well, so just keep the run up, keep doing better, scoring more goals and obviously progress higher and higher with the team.”
Sanchez is the second goalkeeper to win the Castrol Save of the Month award for Chelsea – former teammate Kepa picked up the October 2022 award for a save he made against Aston Villa in the corresponding fixture last season.
Tottenham’s Guglielmo Vicario, Everton’s Jordan Pickford, Manchester City’s Ederson, Arsenal’s David Raya, and August 2023 winner of the Castrol Save of the Month Alisson Becker were also nominated for September’s award.
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