Former Arsenal striker Jay Bothroyd has hit back at Chelsea manager Liam Rosenior for his disrespectful comments towards the Gunners.
Speaking on Sky Sports in the video clip below, Bothroyd insisted that what Rosenior described – players warming up and sometimes going into their opponents’ half – happens all the time.
Rosenior is clearly not happy with Arsenal’s events when he spoke about it in his press conference yesterday, he said: “It’s not the players.
“It happens in every single game” ??
Jay Bothroyd doesn’t believe Arsenal have shown Chelsea disrespect following Liam Rosenior’s claims but can you understand his frustration? #skysportsfc pic.twitter.com/t7qxw6uvUa
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) February 6, 2026
“I asked them, maybe not politely, to leave. I’m not here to play mind games. There are certain norms in football. I have no problem with anyone at Arsenal Football Club. It was just at that time, I don’t think respect was shown to my team.”
Has Liam Rosenior messed up the Chelsea-Arsenal saga?
Rosenior has no experience at the top level of management, even if he did an impressive job at Strasbourg before taking on the role of replacing Enzo Maresca at Chelsea.
The 41-year-old may learn from this and decide that it’s not the best way to try to manage the media, but it may turn out to be clever mind games.
Overall, however, the reaction seems to be pretty negative at the moment.
Watch below as reporter Henry Winter gives his take on everything…
Liam Rosenior is a very promising young manager having proven himself at Derby, Hull, Strasbourg and winning six from eight games at Chelsea. He thinks deeply about this game. You are obviously a very intelligent person. He has also worked in the media. So Rosenior must be smart enough to…
– Henry Winter (@henrywinter) February 6, 2026
“Rosenior must be smart enough to avoid being seen which leads to topics that do not help him and his players,” he said.
“Coaches, especially goalkeepers, go into the team’s half to take long kicks to warm up their goalkeeper. It happens often. Crossing the halfway line is not crossing the line,” he added.
Chelsea were beaten 1-0 by Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium, with the Gunners leading 4-2 on aggregate to set up next month’s Carabao Cup final against Manchester City. In a sense, the fact that we are now talking more about this than Chelsea’s poor performance over both legs may be a goal accomplished for Rosenior!
What do you make of this whole incident, Chelsea fans? Are you following Rosenior or have you overreacted here? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
