Chelsea: Liam Rosenior has opportunity to right the wrongs of Stamford Bridge bow | OneFootball

Work on the training ground must pay off in derby against Brentford

It’s been a unique beginning for Liam Rosenior at Chelsea.

Andrews this season has already shown he can hack it at the highest level, far exceeding pre-season predictions of a relegation battle.

Brentford sit fifth in the standings, and a big part of their success this season has been set-pieces. Chelsea know this all too well, having conceded a stoppage-time equaliser to Fabio Carvalho in September’s 2-2 draw at the Gtech, a goal which came from one of the Bees’ famed long-throw routines.

In Michael Kayode, Mathias Jensen, Kevin Schade and Ethan Pinnock, Brentford possess four long-throw specialists — and it is a trick they have used numerous times to good effect during a season which has become dominated by set-piece specialisms and marginal gains.

Brentford used to work with long-throw specialist Thomas Gronnemark, just hired by Mikel Arteta and Arsenal, and, before that, with Bernardo Cueva — the set-piece coach bought out of his Brentford contract by Chelsea in the summer of 2024 at the cost of almost £750,000. Set plays are big money.

And on Wednesday for Chelsea they were big problems, too, as a Robert Sanchez blunder from a Declan Rice corner allowed Ben White to head home the opener in a Carabao Cup semi-final first leg tie that marked Rosenior’s first defeat in the Chelsea job, and on debut at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea conceded from a corner against Arsenal after seven minutes

REUTERS

Chelsea’s players worked closely with Cueva ahead of the Arsenal match on corners — and they have spent time this week trying to prepare for Brentford and their long-throw threat.

“We will [work on it],” Rosenior said on Thursday. “We did against Arsenal. We spent a lot of time defending corners. It didn't work because they scored.

“We prepare for everything. There's no stone left unturned, not just from me but from all of my staff. I'm aware of the threats that Brentford bring, and I'm sure they're aware of the ones that we do too.”

It is important Chelsea remember that fact. Lower in the table they may be, and long-throw specialists they may not be, but the Blues will be favourites at Stamford Bridge and showed enough attacking intent and quality in the second half against Arsenal to give Brentford plenty to think about.

There could be welcome news for Rosenior, too, with Cole Palmer back in training on Thursday a day early and captain Reece James also returning to full sessions with the group. For Rosenior, most welcome of all, though, would be victory on his Premier League debut as a head coach.