Brighton & Hove Albion head coach Roberto De Zerbi has hinted at an extended run in goal for Jason Steele at the expense of Robert Sanchez.
The Italian believes Steele is better suited to his style of passing out from the back than Sanchez.
Steele kept a second successive clean sheet in Saturday’s 4-0 home win over West Ham, on the second Premier League start of his career.
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The 32-year-old was retained by De Zerbi after Tuesday’s 1-0 win at Championship side Stoke City in the fifth round of the FA Cup.
It ended a sequence of 48 league appearances in a row for Sanchez, stretching back 15 months.
On his goalkeepers, De Zerbi said: “At this moment I think he (Steele) is closer to my idea, my style. Robert is improving, but at this moment Jason deserves to play.
“When I speak of my style, I’m speaking about the foot.”
Sanchez, 25, competed with Brentford’s David Raya as cover for former Spain coach Luis Enrique’s first-choice goalkeeper Unai Simon at the World Cup in Qatar last year.
Steele had been used only in the Carabao Cup and the FA Cup before the change.
Brighton are eighth in the table after beating West Ham, a point behind Fulham in seventh with two games in hand.
They go to Leeds United next Saturday, then face arch-rivals Crystal Palace at the Amex Stadium four days later in pursuit of qualifying for Europe for the first time on two fronts.
De Zerbi’s team are at home to League Two outfit Grimsby Town in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup four days after Palace’s visit.
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