Carragher says Chelsea’s Martinez deal has lost its shine after Arsenal defeat

Jamie Carragher believes Emiliano Martinez remains a better option than Robert Sanchez for Chelsea, but says the Argentina goalkeeper is no longer performing at the level he showed when he helped his country win the World Cup.

Carragher was speaking after Chelsea suffered a 2-1 defeat by Arsenal in the Premier League on Sunday. The result came despite Chelsea taking an early lead in the London derby and raised questions over Martinez’s contribution to Arsenal’s equaliser.

Morgan Rogers gave Chelsea the perfect start inside the opening two minutes, striking the ball into the net from the edge of the penalty area.

Arsenal, however, levelled in the first half when Kai Havertz scored against his former club. The forward’s shot went in at Martinez’s near post after the goalkeeper was unable to keep it out.

Martin Ødegaard then completed Arsenal’s comeback by scoring the winning goal in the second half.

Although Carragher described Chelsea’s decision to sign Martinez from Aston Villa for £7.5m as “a great deal”, the former Liverpool defender suggested the 2022 World Cup winner may have moved beyond his best years.

“I think the goalkeeper would have saved that ball two or three years ago,” Carragher said on Sky Sports while analysing Havertz’s equaliser for Arsenal.

The comments were reported by the Metro, with Carragher also comparing Martinez’s position at Chelsea with that of Robert Sanchez.

“What Chelsea have done is, it is better for everyone that Robert Sanchez is not in goal because he is not at the required level despite being a good goalkeeper,” he said.

Carragher stressed that he did not regard the transfer as a mistake and maintained that Martinez still offered Chelsea greater security than Sanchez.

“It’s not a wrong deal, it was a great deal for £7.5m, and he is still an excellent goalkeeper, in fact he is better than Sanchez. That will give everyone a greater feeling of confidence,” he added.

Martinez played a key role in Argentina’s World Cup triumph, winning the Golden Glove at the 2022 tournament and saving penalties during the final against France. Carragher said, however, that Chelsea are not currently seeing that same version of the goalkeeper.

“Martinez was a great goalkeeper and is still a very good goalkeeper, but he is not the goalkeeper who won the World Cup, that is not right, and this was a small glimpse of that,” Carragher said.

The former Liverpool player also highlighted what he sees as a significant difference between Chelsea and Arsenal, both in terms of their first-choice teams and the depth of their squads.

“There is a huge gap between the two teams, their starting line-ups and squads,” Carragher concluded.

Chelsea’s defeat left Arsenal with the victory after a match in which the home side had initially gained control through Rogers’ early goal. Havertz’s equaliser and Ødegaard’s second-half strike ultimately secured the points for the Gunners.

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