Peter Crouch believes Chelsea have found the answer to their long-standing search for a top class No.1 goalkeeper in the shape of Djordje Petrovic.
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The Blues moved up to eighth in the Premier League table following a 1-0 victory against Fulham in Saturday’s west London derby at Stamford Bridge.
Cole Palmer’s first half penalty effectively sealed the win, but the performance of Petrovic helped kept Chelsea’s slender lead in tact.
The 24-year-old only made his debut last month as a late substitute in a dismal defeat at Everton, but the injury sustained by summer signing Robert Sanchez in that game has afforded Petrovic an unlikely opportunity.
Spain international Sanchez is closing in on a return to full fitness, but Crouch believes Petrovic has done more than enough to retain his place in the team.
‘He looks really assured, he was catching the ball, taking the pressure of his defenders he was vocal he made a couple of good saves,’ Crouch told TNT Sport.’He looks like the answer because they’ve really struggled for goalkeepers in recent years.’
‘It’s a good sign he’s not getting the plaudits,’ added former Chelsea hero Joe Cole. ‘What that means with goalkeepers you want them making the saves they’re supposed to make, a calming influence.
‘You don’t want these ones that do the old camera saves and then are making mistakes. He just looks a good steady hand.
‘A good young goalkeeper who has come in from the MLS, people might not have known a lot about him but he’s had a big reputation and played a lot of football for a young man.
‘I think he’s one of them where in six month’s time he’ll have had 20 or 30 games under his belt and you think he’s not put a foot wrong.’
On whether Pochettino should restore Sanchez to the starting XI once he is fully over his knee injury, he said: ‘He’s got a decision to make a big, big one. We’ve not quite nailed it this club with Cudicini, Cech, Courtois top goalkeepers.
‘Then we’ve rotated and changed, mixed and matched. This lad is 24 and the manager has a big decision to make.
‘It’s similar to Arteta, but this is forced on Pochettino because of an injury. I don’t like the idea of rotating goalkeepers, I like to have a No.1.’
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