Chelsea head coach Liam Rosenior has played down suggestions his Stamford Bridge debut against London rivals Arsenal is the biggest game of his managerial career.
Just over a week on from his appointment on a six-and-a-half-year contract, the 41-year-old will lead the Blues into Wednesday evening’s Carabao Cup semi-final first leg against the Premier League leaders.
Rosenior arrived in west London following an impressive spell with French club Strasbourg after almost leading Hull to the Championship play-offs following an interim stint in charge of Derby.
“People will look at it that way; I don’t see it that way,” he replied when asked if the visit of the Gunners will be his biggest match as a manager.
“Every session that I take, every meeting that I take, every game that we play is the most important thing. I live in the now.
“It is the most important game because it’s the next one. I mean that. If you start to prioritise games or think something is more important than the other then you’re not focused.
“I don’t care if it’s a pre-season game, I’m doing it at my maximum, and I expect that from whichever group I work with.
“That keeps me calm because I’m happy with the process in which we work as a staff, which the players are taking on.
“I’m not making it any bigger than the fact it’s the next game and we have to win, that’s the way I see it.”
Rosenior launched his tenure with Saturday evening’s 5-1 FA Cup third-round win at Charlton after watching last week’s 2-1 Premier League defeat at Fulham from the stands.
He became Chelsea’s eighth permanent boss in 10 years by succeeding Enzo Maresca but dismissed talk of attempting to ‘buy time’ in the job as he focuses on trying to reach Wembley.
“I want to win every game I play, it’s very simple,” Rosenior said. “If you don’t take care of the next game, those trophies don’t exist, it’s as simple as that.
“I’m not thinking about buying time. I’m thinking about winning the next game.
“I felt that against Charlton, I feel that against Arsenal, and I will feel that against Brentford (on Saturday).
“I’m focused on the moment. I’m focused on putting on the best training sessions, the best meetings, the best advice, the best information I can to win the next game because finals and trophies don’t exist if you don’t take care of the now.”
While Chelsea are already 18 points adrift of Arsenal in the top flight, they battled to a creditable 1-1 draw with 10 men when the club’s met in November following a 38th-minute red card for midfielder Moises Caicedo.
“We’ve been working tactically on Arsenal from the moment I came into the club,” Rosenior said.
“We know what an important game it is. We’ve watched all of their games, analysed every aspect of their game.
“This team have already proved this year with 10 men, we caused problems (for Arsenal), and we want to do the same again.”
PA
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