A competition for the number one spot at Chelsea could be brewing between Mike Penders and Robert Sanchez. | OneFootball

Spurs edge out Chelsea in pre-season friendly in Australia. Video Credit: Absolute Chelsea

Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso has provided a double update on goalkeeper duo Mike Penders and Robert Sanchez.

Sanchez's absence in Chelsea's 2-1 pre-season defeat to Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday in Sydney, Australia, raised some eyebrows.

The Spaniard is the only experienced goalkeeper in Chelsea's pre-season squad after Filip Jorgensen flew home to resolve his future and finalise a potential exit.

His absence meant that 23-year-old Teddy Sharman-Lowe had to start in goal in a fiery London derby.

Sharman-Lowe did quite well for the majority of the game, but his lapse of concentration in the final minutes was partly to blame for Richarlison's late winner for Spurs.

After the game, Alonso admitted that he had very little choice since Sanchez apparently had a minor injury issue, and Chelsea decided to go with a cautious approach.

On a more positive note, Alonso also confirmed young goalkeeper Mike Penders will soon join the squad for the pre-season following his World Cup return.

"Mike is joining us in Hong Kong. Robert has a minor injury," said the Chelsea manager after the Tottenham loss.

He added: "He will be fine. He had a minor injury. We didn't want to take risks."

Alonso addressed the media post-match after Chelsea's narrow defeat to Spurs in Australia. REUTERS/Hollie Adams

Penders competing for the number one spot at Chelsea

The 21-year-old had a superb season on loan at Strasbourg last term, having signed for Chelsea from Genk in the summer of 2025.

He kept eight clean sheets from 33 matches in Ligue 1 for the French club and 14 clean sheets overall across all competitions.

This might not look especially impressive until you take into account that he has also faced the second most shots on target (154) in the league during the season.

Impressively, Penders also made the second-most saves (107) in Ligue 1 last season and ranked fifth in save percentage (69.1).

However, what caught a lot of people's attention about Penders is his ball-playing ability.

The young goalkeeper led all goalkeepers across all top five European leagues in accurate passes (1,794) in all club competitions.

Interestingly, fellow Blue Sanchez ranked third in this category, but with quite a gap to Penders, with 1,256.

If Alonso wants the team to continue to build from the back, Penders has the skill set to be Chelsea's number one.

Penders will report for pre-season duty next week after his Belgium selection at the World Cup. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters/Blake Dahlin

While Sanchez has certainly improved his on-ball prowess, his 66.74 per cent passing accuracy is still far below Penders' 86.07 per cent.

As a result, Sanchez has also lost more possessions (445) compared to Penders (202) in league competitions.

The one edge Sanchez has over Penders is his Premier League experience, and this could prove decisive. Penders joining the pre-season is therefore important if he is to compete for the starting goalkeeper role.

Chelsea will face Juventus in Hong Kong on Wednesday, August 5, and the two goalkeepers could hopefully feature in this game.