Liam Rosenior attributed Chelsea\u2019s laboured performance in their 2\u20130 win over Brentford at Stamford Bridge to a virus that affected the squad during the week.<\/p>\n
Cole Palmer\u2019s penalty with just under 15 minutes to go provided the final margin, but Rosenior said the match had been impacted by illness among his players. Est\u00eav\u00e3o was absent from the matchday squad because of a \u201ctemperature and a fever.\u201d Rosenior added that others began to feel unwell, complaining of a tightness in their chest and missing training before the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s running through the squad,\u201d Rosenior rued. \u201cThere were a couple of players playing today who were complaining about their chests. They put in a magnificent effort. I felt that\u2019s why we weren\u2019t good with the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n
With energy levels reduced, Chelsea ceded territory and the bulk of possession to Brentford. Rosenior said he had adjusted his side to contain and to impact the game at key moments.<\/p>\n
One player who made a decisive contribution was Pedro. The Brazilian, who has been used both as a central No. 9 and as a deeper No. 10 this season, scored and impressed with his overall work. \u201cNot just this goal, his performance,\u201d Rosenior enthused. \u201cWe went a little bit more direct to take Brentford off the press early in the game. He won every duel. He was outstanding. There was a moment that makes me so happy in the first half. They were breaking on transition. He sprinted back 70 yards and made a tackle. That\u2019s what I love. That\u2019s what I want to see in my team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rosenior also singled out Enzo Fern\u00e1ndez as a player who has continued to build on an encouraging 2025\/26 campaign. \u201cI\u2019m so impressed,\u201d Rosenior gushed. \u201cI knew what an outstanding player he was. I told him I was actually at the World Cup final when he played. It\u2019s not until you see a player up close and you get to know him and what he\u2019s about.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rosenior praised the team\u2019s resilience and now turns his attention to preparing for the Champions League midweek. \u201cI felt the attitude, the energy levels, value and the basics of football. When you play a good team like Brentford, what pleased me the most was the players\u2019 willingness to battle, to fight, to block shots, to make headers and tackles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rosenior blamed a virus for Chelsea’s subdued 2\u20130 win; Pedro and Enzo Fern\u00e1ndez drew praise. midweek<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6044,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[190,172],"tags":[1047,319],"class_list":["post-6045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea","category-epl","tag-champions-league","tag-cole-palmer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6045"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6045\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}