Liam Rosenior believes the Blues’ impressive form over the past month is the result of his players enjoying their football and ‘playing with real enthusiasm’.
Since being appointed Chelsea head coach on January 6, Rosenior has overseen nine matches in all competitions. Seven of those have ended in victory, the latest coming against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday.
Eleven different players have also been on the scoresheet in Rosenior’s short time at the club. And he believes our attacking output and positive results are down to the happiness within the Chelsea squad.
He explained: ‘I think you can see, whether it’s Cole (Palmer), Joao (Pedro), Enzo (Fernandez), Moi (Caicedo), Andrey (Santos), the defenders, they are all playing with real enthusiasm at the moment because they are enjoying their football.
‘As a coach, that’s very pleasing to see because if you don't play with enthusiasm, you don't play with energy or intensity. At the moment, things are looking good, but we have to continue.’
On our goalscoring form – the Blues have struck 22 times during Rosenior’s tenure – the Blues head coach added: ‘We've got so many different threats. You see Marc Cucurella and Malo Gusto, the full-backs, in the penalty box and trying to score, that’s the football I believe in.
‘When you have different threats on the pitch, it’s very difficult to cover that. So at the moment, our goalscoring threat is really, really good, I would like more clean sheets with that and we’ve got to make sure we get the balance of our game right.’
Chelsea's next assignment under Rosenior is tomorrow's visit of Leeds United to Stamford Bridge. It will not be an easy test for the Blues, as Daniel Farke's side have lost just two of their previous ten Premier League matches.
A switch to a back-five system has underpinned Leeds' upturn in form; the Whites' defence has only been breached on more than one occasion in two games since December 14.
In his pre-match press conference, Rosenior discussed the challenge of facing a resolute defence and the balance that must be struck in allowing players individual freedom while adhering to a solid structure in and out of possession.
He explained: 'For me, the reason most of them are top, elite, world-class players is they make great decisions in the moment. My job is not to tell them where to be; my job is to put them in positions where they can affect the game in their own way.
'Being fluid has positives in terms of being unpredictable for the opposition, but if you do not have the correct structure behind that, you can become really, really open in transition. So it’s trying to find a balance between the two.
'I felt against Wolves there were some really pleasing aspects of our rotations and our fluidity in possession. In the second half, we didn't stay true to our structure, that's one of the reasons why our performance wasn't as good in that half.'