Why it's so important for Rosenior to hit the ground running in the Premier League

Chelsea have had an eventful start to the year so far. They sacked Enzo Maresca on the first day of 2026 and appointed Liam Rosenior less than a week later on a six and a half year deal through until 2032. 

Whilst it's clear things weren't going the Italian's way as his team only picked up one league win in December and are now five games without a victory, many are questioning co-founder of Clearlake Capital, Behdad Eghbali's decision. 

As only a month earlier, the Blues were considered title contenders, chasing Arsenal alongside Manchester City, and of course, the season prior, Maresca won the Europa Conference League, finished top four and won the first FIFA Club World Cup - all in his first season in charge. 

 

Two trophies and a return to the Champions League seemed like a solid first season and would see his job secure for this season, however, the reasons for Maresca's departure are believed to be not only results-based but also to do with the fracturing and now broken relationship between Maresca and the Chelsea board. 

This reached a boiling point after a 2-0 home victory over Everton, his first win from his last seven league games in charge. In his post-game press-conference Maresca said, "Since I joined the club, the last 48 hours have been the worst because many people didn't support us."

It felt like a matter of time before the 45-year-old was shown the door after his comments, and the results didn't help him. But now with Liam Rosenior stepping in from another club owned by Todd Boehly's BlueCo consortium, all pressure is on him to steady the ship and save a season that is quickly sinking for the Blues. 

The importance of a strong league start

Following a 5-1 ousting of Charlton in his first game in charge in the FA cup, and despite losing last night 3-2 to Arsenal are far from out of the League Cup, going into the second leg at the Emirates, thanks to a brace from substitute Alejandro Garnacho.

It's impossible to make a verdict on Rosenior yet, however, it is critical that he makes a good start in the league, as they welcome the red-hot Brentford to Stamford Bridge this weekend in a West London derby that matters a lot more than people would have thought at the start of the season. 

These two teams are on polar opposite trajectories in the league currently. Chelsea have one win in seven, and Brentford are unbeaten in six, scoring 14 goals, only conceding four in that time and keeping a clean sheet in half of those games. 

The highlight of this run being an impressive 3-0 win over Sunderland, who everyone had presumed by this point were the season's surprise package.  However, an Igor Thiago brace, followed by a first league goal of the season for Ukrainian youngster Yehor Yarmolyuk, capped off a dominant display.  

 

Thiago's two goals took him to 16 for the season, only behind the machine that is Erling Haaland, and now he has already broken the record for most goals scored by a Brazilian in a single Premier League season.

This has left the Bees sitting in fifth on 33 points, two points clear of Chelsea in eighth, so a loss here could leave Chelsea in an unfavourable position for a team aiming to qualify for the Champions League again.

These two weeks could define Chelsea's season

Following Brentford on Saturday, Chelsea have another four games this month, two in the Champions League and two in the league against London rivals. 

The Champions League

Chelsea are 13th on ten points and will still be looking to make a push for the top eight, only being two points adrift, and will want to avoid the additional playoff phase. 

Especially with teams like Barcelona, Juventus, Newcastle, Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool all sitting with Chelsea between ninth and 24th currently, it'll be an additional two games that Rosenior will be keen on not playing.

First up is Pafos at home, who sit in 26th with six points and still can make the playoffs. However, the Cypriot team, despite showing more fight than expected this campaign, should be no match for Chelsea.

Chelsea can boast the likes of Cole Palmer, Enzo Fernández and Moisés Caicedo, who have all proven they can be world class players on the biggest of stages. Alongside the emerging 18-year old Estêvão, who has burst onto the scene and already made his mark in this competition. 

 

Their final game will be away to Napoli on the 28th of January, who, despite an underwhelming European campaign, are sitting in 23rd on seven points. They are looking to retain their Scudetto and sit in third in Serie A, only six points behind Inter Milan. 

Premier League

Following the first of their European clashes, Chelsea travel to South London to face Crystal Palace and then six days later welcome West Ham United. 

Despite these games not seeming like the most difficult of games, Chelsea haven't taken three points from Palace since Oliver Glasner joined. But with questions over his future, along with key players Marc Guéhi, Adam Wharton and Jean-Philippe Mateta, this seems like the perfect time for Chelsea to finally get a win over Glasner and the Eagles. Something which Rosenior has already done this season with Strasbourg in the Europa Conference League. 

 

They will then see the Hammers come to Stamford Bridge, who could very much be with a new manager by the time this game comes around. 

These games are highlighted because this season has proven that anyone can beat anyone, and the league is so close that right now, Chelsea sit in eighth on 31 points, with the top five only two points away. On the flip side, 15th-placed Bournemouth are only five points behind the West London club. 

A shaky start to Rosenior's tenure could lead to a disastrous slide this season and a spiral which the club could struggle to escape from. 

Prove the current narrative wrong

Arguably, the most personal reason for Rosenior to hit the ground running is to disprove the narrative surrounding him. The idea that he was purely hired because of his ties to Clearlake and will not get into any disagreements with the board, therefore avoiding a situation similar to the Maresca fallout. 

This burden weighing on him isn't helped by the end of his time at Strasbourg. When he took over at the start of the 2024/25 season, he took them to seventh qualifying for the Europa Conference League, which was a massive leap compared to 13th the previous season. 

However, this season they remain in that same position, showing no signs of pushing on and with his last game in charge being a 1-1 draw to 14th place OGC Nice, a first point for Les Aiglons since October, and they'd be annoyed they didn't get more from the game. 

 

They are unbeaten and leading the Europa Conference League; however, being six points adrift from sixth place in the league can't exactly fill Chelsea fans with confidence. 

But is this all an overreaction?

The fact of the matter is this Chelsea squad is still extremely young and having players constantly joining, being loaned out or sold makes it difficult to build cohesion and a true connection on and off the field. 

The inconsistent form seen during Maresca's reign can almost be expected from this current squad. There is no proof yet that this squad can be consistently strong for an entire season, so all the blame can't be put on Rosenior if he doesn't get off to the perfect start. 

Last season in a two-month span between the Decmeber 22nd and February 22nd, they only won three out of a possible 12 games, with one of those wins being against Morecambe in the FA Cup. 

Straight after that, they went on to win 14 of their last 19 games of the season, which included their run to the Conference League Final and eventual 4-1 win over Real Betis, and a 1-0 away win against Nottingham Forest, last season's surprise package, to secure fourth place and Champions League qualification on the last day of the season. 

This form continued, of course, into the summer and the FIFA Club World Cup as they dispatched the newly-crowned European champions PSG 3-0 in the final. 

So whilst it is always important for a new manager to get off to a strong start, especially in the league, and Chelsea do have some extremely important fixtures coming up this month. These games necessarily shouldn't decide Rosenior's fate just yet. 

 

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