Liam Rosenior moved quickly to calm concerns about the fitness of Cole Palmer and Reece James after his first match in charge, a cup victory at Charlton on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Rosenior named a heavily rotated side for the tie, handing starts to Jamie Gittens, Marc Guiu, Alejandro Garncho, Facundo Buonanotte, Andrey Santos, Jorrel Hato, Josh Acheampong and Filip J\u00f6rgensen. There was, however, no place in the matchday squad for Palmer, James or Malo Gusto.<\/p>\n
\u201cMalo, Cole and Reece were precautionary today,\u201d Rosenior explained after the win.<\/p>\n
The manager, who took over following a spell with Strasbourg, said he did not want to jeopardise the players\u2019 availability as the season reaches a congested period. \u201cI don\u2019t want to take any risks at this stage of the season. They had minor tweaks or knocks from the Fulham game. And I feel like I\u2019ve got such a good squad here. I don\u2019t need to risk their health at the moment,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Rosenior indicated the decision to rest key players was partly about preparation for the next fixtures. Chelsea travel to the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg against Arsenal on Wednesday, a tie Rosenior described as an opportunity to secure a place in the club\u2019s first major final of the season.<\/p>\n
After that comes a Premier League match at home to Brentford on Saturday. The Bees sit fifth in the table, two points ahead of Chelsea in eighth, having taken 14 from the last 18 available to them. That run makes the weekend fixture an important step in Chelsea\u2019s pursuit of a top four finish.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a huge game on Wednesday, we have a huge game on Saturday,\u201d Rosenior pointed out, underlining the compressed schedule and the rationale for managing minutes in the cup victory at Charlton.<\/p>\n
For now, the manager has framed the absences as precautionary and part of a wider plan to protect key players for the challenges ahead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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