Chelsea have something ‘special’, says Liam Rosenior after 3-2 EPL comeback win over West Ham United

LONDON – Liam Rosenior said Chelsea’s dramatic fightback from two goals down to beat West Ham United 3-2 on Jan 31 showed his side have something “special”.

Rosenior’s side trailed to first-half goals from Jarrod Bowen and Crysencio Summerville at Stamford Bridge.

But Chelsea ignored the half-time jeers from their angry fans, staging a brilliant revival after the break.

Joao Pedro reduced the deficit before Marc Cucurella headed in the equaliser.

For the first time in the English Premier League era, Chelsea came from two down at half-time to win, thanks to Enzo Fernandez who netted in stoppage time.

“My biggest learning is there’s a spirit, a fight and a resilience in this group that I really, really like,” Rosenior said.

“We don’t have many training sessions, but we spoke about reacting positively to setbacks. All of that was there in the second half, which wasn’t there in the first half.”

The 41-year-old added: “We’ve had so many games in a short space of time. I was fearful of a lack of energy and not energy or lack of application, but I felt our decision-making was really poor in the first half.

“When to keep the ball, when we pressed, we were just too far off it. West Ham were by far the better team.

“We had a reaction at half-time. The reaction in the second half tells me that we’ve got something really, really special here if I can utilise the squad in the correct way.”

Rosenior became only the fourth English manager to win his first three Premier League games – after Bobby Gould, Sam Allardyce and Craig Shakespeare – as the Blues stayed in the hunt for a Champions League spot.

Rosenior has overseen six wins from seven games in all competitions since arriving from Strasbourg to replace Enzo Maresca.

Meanwhile, Mikel Arteta said Arsenal’s 4-0 demolition of Leeds United on Jan 31 proved the league leaders can cope with the pressure of the title race.

Arteta’s side ended a three-game winless run in the league with a ruthless display at Elland Road.

The Gunners led at the break through Martin Zubimendi’s header and an own goal from Leeds goalkeeper Karl Darlow.

Second-half strikes from Viktor Gyokeres and Gabriel Jesus wrapped up a much-needed victory for Arsenal, who had been labelled chokers after allowing their lead to dwindle in recent weeks.

Goalless draws against Liverpool and Nottingham Forest were compounded by the previous week’s defeat by Manchester United.

But Arteta had insisted his players remained upbeat in the face of mounting criticism and they delivered a dynamic performance that repaid their manager’s faith.

“We’re very happy, obviously. A very impressive performance, a very impressive result, especially in the context that we’ve done it,” he said.

“We knew about the difficulty of the game and the opponent that we’re facing, with a recent form and the style of play that they have at the moment, the energy that the stadium brings.

“The fact that after three results that didn’t go our way in the league, we really wanted to show how much we wanted it. And I think we said something on that today.” AFP