Liam Rosenior believes our Premier League meeting with West Ham United, coming so soon after the UEFA Champions League win over Napoli, could be the most important match of his time as Chelsea head coach so far.
Rosenior has made an impressive start to his time in the Blues dugout, winning five of his first six matches since joining the club earlier this month.
Arguably the best yet came on Wednesday evening, when we fought back from 2-1 down at half-time to win 3-2 at a Napoli team who had gone 25 games without defeat at home, booking our place in the last 16 of this season’s Champions League in the process.
However, the important thing for our head coach is showing we can continue performing at that level on a consistent basis, including in back-to-back games across different competitions in quick succession.
‘For me tomorrow is the biggest game of the season, it’s very simple,’ insisted Rosenior, ahead of hosting West Ham at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.
‘I’m going to find out so much. We have really good players, but if you want to be a consistent winning team, these are the games where you have to step forward and not be complacent.
‘After an amazing win in Italy, to come back three days later, I want to see the consistency levels of the group. That’s why for me this is a massive mark of where we’re really at.’
The challenge the Blues will need to overcome to show that consistency is looking tougher than it did a few weeks ago. West Ham struggled earlier in the season, but have shown big improvement recently under Nuno Espirito Santo’s leadership, winning their last three games in a row across all competitions.
‘I’m not surprised Nuno has put his stamp on the team,’ added Rosenior. ‘All of his teams have always been really organised without the ball, whether that’s in a 4-4-2 or a 5-4-1 shape, and they’ve always been very good in transition moments.
‘[Jarrod] Bowen and [Crysencio] Summerville are real threats for them and that’s something we’ve spoken about.’
Thankfully, the Chelsea head coach is working with a group of players who are eager to continue learning and improving. That makes his task easier as he looks to get the best out of the talent at his disposal, even if he is still learning about the individual personalities which make up his squad.
‘The players are brilliant to work with, I think they’re really engaged, they’re showing real belief in what we’re trying to do together,' he said. 'But I think winning helps your message as a coach and we have to keep doing our very best to win games.
‘But so far I can’t say a bad thing about them as a group. They’re young, they’re talented, they’re gifted, but they want to learn, they want to improve, and they’re really good signs.
‘I’ve got to get to know all the players, I’ve got to get to know what makes them tick. Each player as an individual, as a human being, their personality traits, what they need.
‘Some players need a lot of attention, other players need leaving alone. Whether it’s Joao [Pedro], or Cole [Palmer], or Enzo [Fernandez], or Moi [Caicedo], or Reece [James], I try to treat them as the person they are. I need to get the best out of each individual.’

