Liam Rosenior could be seen shouting at Arsenal coaches ahead of Chelsea's Carabao Cup semi-final second leg clash at Emirates Stadium on Sunday
13:55, 05 Feb 2026Updated 14:13, 05 Feb 2026
Liam Rosenior
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Liam Rosenior has explained his reason for shouting before Chelsea's clash with Arsenal(Image: Javier Garcia/Shutterstock)
Liam Rosenior has defended his decision to shout at the Arsenal coaching staff before Chelsea's Carabao Cup semi-final second-leg tie at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday.
The Chelsea head coach, 41, appeared displeased with something that happened in the warm up. He gestured at a member of his coaching staff before throwing his arms up in the air in the direction of the Arsenal players.
It was initially reported that Rosenior was annoyed by the Arsenal players venturing into his half while warming up. The former Hull City and Strasbourg boss could be heard shouting "stay in your half" to his opposition.
But now, ahead of Saturday's Premier League trip to Wolves, Rosenior has opened up on the furious Arsenal incident and admitted he was indeed frustrated with the coaching staff and not the players for entering his half.
"It wasn't the players," Rosenior said in his pre-match press conference on Thursday. "I'm respectful. When you warm up, you have your half, the other team have their half. I've never asked my team or my coaches to encroach on the opposition's territory. In that moment, I didn't think it was right where they were operating.
"They were affecting my lads' warm-up and my staff's warm-up. So, I asked them, maybe not politely, to make sure they stay in their half. I'm not here to have mind games. It's just what I think is right and respectful. Hopefully, we respect that and other teams do too."
Chelsea manager Liam Rosenior
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Chelsea manager Liam Rosenior was unhappy before his side's game against Arsenal(Image: Getty Images)
"There are certain etiquettes in football," Rosenior added. "I always try and be as respectful as possible. I always want to win. I've never asked my coaches.
"I don't have an issue with anyone at Arsenal Football Club. A fantastic manager, Mikel Arteta, I've got so much respect for. It was just in that moment, I didn't think that respect was shown to my team."
Chelsea ended up losing the game 1-0 after Kai Havertz scored a 97th minute winner. It meant the Blues fell to a 4-2 defeat on aggregate and exited the competition at the semi-final stage for the first time since 2018.
Assessing his side's performance against Arsenal and the negative 'noise' that has come out surrounding his team, Rosenior said: "The noise doesn't surprise me at all, that comes with the territory.
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"What other teams do, it has nothing to do with me. What people think about the way my teams play makes no difference to my decision making. We didn't go through so there are always things you can do differently, but that was a very, very solid performance and the game could have easily gone our way."
Next up for the Blues is rock bottom Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League this weekend. Chelsea thumped Rob Edwards' side 4-0 in the reverse fixture back in November.
But since then, Wolves have improved. They have lost just one of their last six matches across all competitions and secured their first Premier League win of the season against West Ham last month.
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"We prepare in exactly the same way," Rosenior added. "I've watched Rob's team recently. They put in a very good performance against Bournemouth and were unfortunate not to get anything from the game. I want to see a consistency from this group in our engagement in every game we play. It's another important game in our season."