Chelsea: Liam Rosenior explains Alejandro Garnacho substitution as Champions League hopes take a hit | OneFootball

Chelsea head coach gambled right at the start of the second half with his side trailing by a goal

Trailing 1-0 at the interval on their first visit to the Hill Dickinson Stadium, Rosenior took right-back Gusto off and brought on Garnacho.

Chelsea went on to lose the game 3-0 in a major dent to their hopes of securing Champions League football.

Moises Caicedo switched to right-back, with Enzo Fernandez taking his place in the double-pivot in midfield. That allowed Cole Palmer to move to No10 so Garnacho and Pedro Neto could play wide either side of him.

While the move briefly looked like working, Everton soon doubled their lead as Beto scored his second of the evening.

Iliman Ndiaye then made it 3-0, with Rosenior later calling it the “most disappointing evening” of his tenure as Chelsea suffered their fourth defeat in a row in all competitions.

“We had chances. [Jordan] Pickford made an unbelievable save and we were getting into the final third more and more. We wanted to make a positive change at half-time and get an extra winger on the pitch.

“And Moises has done that job very, very well against Everton, against Ndiaye, before inverting from right-back. You try and make positive changes to influence the game, and I felt even that change [worked] up until the second goal.”

Alejandro Garnacho replaced Malo Gusto in an attacking change by Chelsea at half time

Chelsea FC via Getty Images

The Chelsea head coach added: “Again, I need to watch the game back. I've watched it once live.

“We arrived in that final third time and time and time again without that clinical moment. And we make a mistake for the second goal.

“Statistically, if you go through each game, it's not for a lack of shots, not for a lack of final third entries. That's where we need to be more clinical, and that's something we need to work on.”