Chris Davie
Published February 3, 2026 11:16pm
Updated February 3, 2026 11:17pm
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Liam Rosenior opted to play five defenders for Chelsea’s Carabao Cup semi-final against Arsenal (Getty)
Paul Merson criticised Chelsea’s approach in their 1-0 defeat to Arsenal in the Carabao Cup semi-final on Tuesday night and claims Enzo Fernandez was ‘wasted’ in Liam Rosenior’s new-look system.
Chelsea were chasing a 3-2 defeat from the first leg at Stamford Bridge and for the return fixture at the Emirates Stadium, Rosenior opted to play three central defenders in Wesley Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah and Jorrel Hato, while Marc Cucurella and Malo Gusto were deployed as wing-backs.
But Arsenal were rarely troubled as Chelsea registered just two shots on target before Kai Havertz scored from a counter-attack in the sixth minute of injury time to secure Arsenal’s place at Wembley in the Carabao Cup final on March 22, where they will play either Manchester City or Newcastle United.
In his post-match analysis, Paul Merson slammed Chelsea for their lack of attacking threat and feels Rosenior’s tactical changes hindered his key players such as Fernandez.
‘I’m numb, I’m flabbergasted. I can’t believe what I’ve just watched,’ Merson told Sky Sports after the full-time whistle.
‘This is Chelsea Football Club, they’ve got international football players, they’ve got a World Cup winner, this isn’t a bottom-five team. He [Wesley Fofana] is crying, he should be crying because they never had a go.
Paul Merson says Enzo Fernandez was wasted in Chelsea’s system against Arsenal (AP)
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‘I’m lost for words, I can’t believe they never had a go. They’ve gone out with a whimper in a semi-final. It hasn’t worked. Go out in a blaze of glory, don’t go out like that.’
Merson went on to add: ‘The midfield three [of Arsenal] weren’t great but they played against a very good midfield three in [Moises] Caicedo and [Andrey] Santos… I thought Enzo was wasted out on the left in the first half, playing on the left against one of Arsenal’s better defenders in [Jurrien] Timber.
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‘You look back now, I just think [Viktor] Gyokeres up front is struggling, just play two centre-halves, the two full-backs are very good in Gusto and Cucurella, they can look after the two wingers, they are good defenders one versus one, that gives you an extra forward to get on the pitch and they didn’t, they went with another defender and I don’t think they needed to.
‘And if you want to play Estevao as your right-hand side for 45 minutes then play [Cole] Palmer the other 45 minutes, but you’re getting a player on, they’re just wasting time.
‘I wouldn’t mind if it was [Erling] Haaland up front, it’s Gyokeres, it’s no disrespect to him, but if you’ve got two centre-halves who can’t look after him then you start to worry.
‘I’d love to talk to the Arsenal players and ask, ‘are you shocked what happened tonight, did you think Chelsea would come and have a right go?’. Liam is talking like he come into Chelsea like they were fifth bottom in the league, they weren’t fifth bottom, they were still flying along, he’s talking about improvement, Chelsea fans won’t be happy with that, I’m sorry.’
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