Rosenior undertook his first training session at Cobham this morning and began preparations for his debut in the Blues dugout, which comes in Saturday's FA Cup third-round tie against Charlton Athletic.

The 41-year-old inherits a team that has seen a dip in form over the past month, with our latest outing ending in a 2-1 defeat at Craven Cottage against Fulham. But Hato believes Rosenior can inject fresh impetus and help Chelsea build momentum once again.

‘Everyone is excited to work with the new coach and the new energy he brings,’ explained the defender. ‘It has been a difficult time, changing managers and the last couple of games we didn’t win, but now with the new manager we have a fresh start for everyone.

‘I have a lot of faith in my team-mates and in the new manager to be better and win these games. He spoke to us about the winning mentality, so we’re looking forward to getting started.’

The first task for Chelsea under Rosenior is to bounce back from Wednesday night’s painful derby defeat.

The Blues started strongly against our west London neighbours and, despite being reduced to 10 men following a red card shown to Marc Cucurella, fought back from a goal down through Liam Delap’s first in the Premier League for the club. However, we had a deserved point snatched away by a late Fulham goal.

Hato was introduced from the bench to reinforce our defence at left-back following Cucurella’s dismissal, and while proud of the fighting spirit shown by the ten-man Blues, he admits it was a tough result to take.

‘When we got a man sent off early in the game, we knew it was going to be difficult for a long time – I knew when I came on it would be a difficult game,’ he explained.

‘It was frustrating but the effort from the team was good. We ran a lot for each other, we defended like a real team, we fought for each other.

‘With one man down, we knew they would keep coming and keep attacking, but we also knew there would be moments when we’d get the ball and have the chance to counter. We did that and scored through Liam, but unfortunately, we conceded a second, so we are disappointed.’

The first chance for Hato and Chelsea to put that disappointment behind us comes with a fresh start under Rosenior at the Valley.