Liam Rosenior brutally told he will soon face the sack at Chelsea by former Blues player despite strong start

Despite being relatively unproven at the highest level, the 41-year-old has overseen a smooth transition from the sacked Enzo Maresca - claiming 13 out of a possible 15 points in the Premier League and masterminding an unlikely away victory at Napoli in the Champions League to guarantee an all-important top-eight finish in the league phase. The only blemish on his record so far is the narrow Carabao Cup semi-final defeat to much-fancied Arsenal over two legs, while Chelsea's last league game saw them throw away a two-goal lead to draw with Leeds. The west Londoners recovered from that setback with a comfortable victory over Rosenior's former club Hull on Friday night, though, to book their place in the fifth round of the FA Cup.

Despite that strong start, former Chelsea player Emmanuel Petit believes that the unpredictable way the club is run means that long-term success is far from guaranteed. "Can Liam Rosenior ever win a Premier League title with Chelsea? They've been changing players every single year. So consistency and stability are very important if you want to win something," he said, via Ignition Casino.

"You have to stick with your players, have a vision, and stick with it. It doesn't matter if you go through dark tunnels, you have to stick with it. You have to believe in it. You have to send a message to the dressing room, whatever happens on the pitch, even if we got bad results, we stick with our ideas. Liverpool did that, and they won trophies. City did that, and they won trophies. Arsenal have been doing that for years now and are not far from winning it. We will see at the end of the season."

The World Cup-winning former midfielder, who also represented Arsenal, warned Rosenior that he is only "three or four" negative results away from being sacked, such is the nature of the Chelsea beast.

"Look at Manchester United, look at Spurs, look at Chelsea, all those clubs," the Frenchman continued. "They've been changing players and managers so many times. And then all of a sudden you want them to win the title? And you're asking me if Liam Rosenior is capable of winning the title with Chelsea? I'm not sure if he's going to be the manager in 10 months. If he has three or four bad results in a row, I will not be surprised if the board sacks him."

Given how willingly Chelsea's BlueCo owners have swung the axe, it's difficult to argue with Petit's point. Rosenior is already the club's fifth permanent head coach since their takeover in 2022, with two trophies not enough to keep his predecessor Maresca in the job, albeit there was plenty more going on behind the scenes.

The Englishman seems acutely aware that winning games is the only way he can avoid coming under pressure. He said of the scrutiny recently: "My motivation is just to make this club as successful as possible and to win the next game. All my energy and time is focused on my players, the team, the way we do the team meetings and the way we train. The other stuff is just noise, and I can't affect it anyway - apart from by winning games of football." Rosenior will hope to continue his good start when the Blues host struggling Burnley on Saturday.