Chelsea

Chelsea boss Liam Rosenior has been speaking to the media before Sunday's Premier League game against Arsenal at Emirates Stadium (16:30 GMT).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• Rosenior confirmed Marc Cucurella is not available for Sunday but "hopefully we can get him back quickly as soon as possible", while Estevao Willian will be "out for a little bit longer", Jamie Gittens is "progressing in his rehab" and Dario Essugo is "back on the training pitch".

• Captain Reece James is "absolutely fine" while Romeo Lavia is "getting stronger and stronger" and "we had a mini-practice match in the week where he looked really good".

• On facing holders Paris St-Germain in the Champions League last 16: "So excited. PSG are a fantastic team. I have experience of playing against them in France. I have always admired them. Luis Enrique has done an incredible job. These are the games you live for, games that you come into football for. It's going to be a great tie. But we've got another three games before that, that I need to focus on."

• On the race to qualify for next season's Champions League: "I want the players to be as physically and mentally fresh as possible. They've looked really good in training this week. We need to stay calm and consistent in our process. This club should be in the Champions League, this club is a Champions League club. When I took over, we were eighth. We're now in the race."

• Rosenior was asked about the club's finances after they posted the highest annual loss ever by an English football club: "My job is to focus on the team, trying to make the team and the squad as strong as possible to win things. I will have those conversations with the ownership and those above me. But [finances] are not something that is at the forefront of my mind. I just want to make sure we are successful on the pitch."

• On racist abuse suffered by Wesley Fofana after getting sent off in last weekend's draw against Burnley: "It was a tough day for Wes. First for what happened in the game and the racist abuse he got online. It affects you in ways that shouldn't exist. It's something we have to try and eradicate from life and football. He is strong and has trained this week."

• Anticipating the challenge posed by the league leaders, Rosenior said: "They are an incredibly well-coached team in every aspect of the game. Whether they compress really high, they have compact shape in the low blocks, they are fantastic defensively, obviously set-plays, they are well-coached and they play very good football as well. They are a very good team and that is why they are in the situation they are in at the moment. It is my job and the players' job to try to find that weakness and try to enjoy what is going to be a really, really big game on Sunday."

Listen to full live commentary of Arsenal v Chelsea on BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds

Follow all of Friday's Premier League news conferences and the rest of the day's football news

Got a question about Chelsea? Get in touch here and we'll put it to our experts

Image source, Getty Images

The Champions League last-16 draw has been made and a route to the final has been plotted for all six Premier League sides in the competition.

The first legs will be played on the 10 and 11 March, the second on 17 and 18 March.

Here are the ties:

• Atalanta v Bayern Munich

• Atletico Madrid v Tottenham

• Bayer Leverkusen v Arsenal

• Bodo/Glimt v Sporting

• Galatasaray v Liverpool

• Newcastle v Barcelona

• Paris St-Germain v Chelsea

• Real Madrid v Manchester City

Get live reaction and consider your route to the final here

Daniel Austin
BBC Sport senior journalist

Image source, Getty Images

Fans of the Premier League's six wealthiest clubs are paying an average of £74 per ticket for each match they attend, while ticket revenues are soaring, according to data from a new report.

The Uefa European club finance and investment landscape report shows that Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham earned an average of 19% more money from selling tickets for home matches in 2025 than in 2024.

Among Premier League clubs, Arsenal made the most per fan, per match, earning an average of £89 per ticket.

The biggest increase in ticket income was earned by Liverpool, who made 27% more than the previous year, for a total of £120m.

The figures include matches in all European and domestic competitions and comprise the average price for general admission and hospitality tickets.

The data shows all 20 Premier League clubs made a combined total of £920m from ticket sales last year - an increase of £90m from the previous year.

That total is almost double the total of £514m in ticket income earned by Spanish clubs.

Nine Premier League clubs feature in Europe's top 25 for gate revenue, with the wealthiest six all in the top 11.

The report shows the 20 Premier League clubs are well ahead of their European rivals when it comes to overall revenue, earning a combined total of £6.5bn.

That is almost double the revenue of the next highest division, Germany's Bundesliga, whose 18 clubs made a total of £3.4bn.

Of the 25 clubs who generated the most revenue, 11 were English.

But those revenues did not mean the Premier League clubs turned a collective profit, as only five made a profit while 15 made losses and across the division, there was a combined pre-tax loss of £559m.

Chelsea - with £355m - made the second-highest loss in European football history while Spurs (£129m) were the the third-biggest losers in 2025, with Aston Villa fifth (£85m).

Read Dan's piece in full

Liverpool are firmly in the frame for Nottingham Forest's 23-year-old Brazil defender Murillo, although Chelsea still lead the pursuit. (Teamtalk), external

Serbia international Dusan Vlahovic favours a switch to Barcelona when his Juventus contract ends this summer, although Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea remain in the hunt to sign the 26-year-old forward. (Teamtalk), external

Arsenal and Manchester City are considering bids of £30m for Atalanta left-back Honest Ahanor. Chelsea are also interested in the 18-year-old Nigerian. (Caught Offside), external

Forward Nicolas Jackson is set to return to Chelsea. The 24-year-old Senegal international moved to Bayern Munich on loan last summer, but the Bundesliga champions are not keen on a permanent switch. (CFBayernInsider), external

Want more transfer stories? Read Friday's full gossip column

Follow the gossip column on BBC Sport

Nizaar Kinsella
Chelsea reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Chelsea recorded a pre-tax loss of £355m for 2024-25, according to financial figures released by Uefa.

It is the highest annual loss ever made by an English football club, and the second highest in European history, following the £484m Barcelona's lost in 2021.

Sources at Chelsea say a number of factors have caused an unfavourable outlook in Uefa's latest report.

Those factors include asset impairments (an accounting term for when an asset has a lower market value than that listed on a company's balance sheet), settlements tied to historical regulatory matters, and the exiting of legacy contracts.

Those disclosures are required under the governing body regulations.

Chelsea say they remain profitable on an operating basis, believe they will comply with Uefa's rules, and deny they will have to sell star players to fulfil any regulatory requirements.

After a substantial fine in the summer for breaching spending rules, they remain under Uefa scrutiny. And they could face further fines as part of the settlement should they continue to not be compliant.

But they point to a profitable season in the transfer market to highlight how they expect to avoid further punishments under the existing agreement.

Read more on Chelsea's record loss

Image source, Getty Images

We asked for your views on can Chelsea's discipline issues be blamed on youth? Or is it something else? How can they fix it?

Take a look at the data on the post below this and here are some of your comments on the dilemma:

Kwaku: It is a self fulfilling prophecy. Many of the yellow cards that Chelsea players pick up are routinely ignored by the referees when other teams are involved. It's not a discipline issue.

Dell: I don't think age has anything to do with it. All these players know the rules, they've all been playing since the age of 10 or even earlier. It's ill discipline, pure and simple, and it's for the coaching staff to drill it into their heads that they need to be careful how they tackle and, more importantly, keep their mouths shut when they don't like the decision of the referee. The amount of yellow cards given to Chelsea players for dissent is crazy.

Tony: Youthfulness is absolutely no excuse. Most of them are internationals and should know better. It stems from weak management off the pitch, no apparent accountability and total ill-discipline from over rated and over paid players who should be performing much better. All round it sums up where Chelsea are as a club under the present owners and sporting directors. They have taken the 2021 Champions League winners, mega successful academy plus a very talented trophy-winning ladies team and somehow destroyed the structure of all of all them with breath-taking incompetence.

Ross: It's not a youth thing. A vast swathe of the red cards have been for things that have been thought to be innocuous for other teams in exactly the same circumstances. There is a referee/VAR conspiracy at play undoubtedly.

Nicola Pearson
BBC Sport journalist

Another Premier League weekend, another game to question Chelsea's discipline.

Since the takeover of the club in 2022, the Blues have consistently featured in the top five for most disciplinary points (one for yellow cards and five for red cards) in the 'Fair Play' table for the Premier League season.

And 2025-26 is not looking likely to break that trend.

With Wesley Fofana's red card in the 1-1 draw with Burnley at the weekend, plus yellow cards for goalkeeper Robert Sanchez and late substitute Jorrel Hato, it leaves Chelsea on 86 discipline points - seven points more than any other team.

The picture is similar when broken down into red cards - where they lead the way with six - and yellow cards, with 60 of those seeing them fifth.

In December, former winger Pat Nevin described midfielder Moises Caicedo's red card against Arsenal as "an echo of their previous youthful overexuberance", while back in May, pundit Fara Williams suggested Chelsea's high number of yellow cards at the time "could be an issue with them being such a young squad" and they needed a "bit more emotional control" in their game.

But while many have pointed to the Blues' youthfulness - they currently have the youngest average age squad in the league at 23.4 - being the culprit to the discipline issues, boss Liam Rosenior is less convinced

"I think youth is one thing, accountability is another," he said after the match. "I know what we need to get there. It's not down to youth, it's down to assessing the players and identifying the ones you can rely on in difficult moments."

And could he be right? Is it time to stop using age as an excuse for ill-discipline?

When comparing rankings on discipline to the average age of squads in the Premier League, Chelsea's young team correlates with where you might expect for discipline by topping the table for most points from red and yellow cards.

But when you look behind them, the picture is more mixed.

The nearest to west London club in terms of age is promoted side Sunderland, whose squad average is 25 years, and the Black Cats do sit eighth for number of discipline points this season.

The likes of Bournemouth, Brentford and Tottenham - who are second behind Chelsea with 79 discipline points - also feature in the five youngest squads this campaign.

But if Rosenior's side were to look to the teams they see themselves competing with in the upper echelons of the league, the picture is more stark.

Arsenal, Manchester City, Liverpool and Manchester United all feature in the 10 youngest squads this term, but despite this, all four teams have much better discipline records, with United and Arsenal having the fewest points in the league at 38.

While there are a number of factors at play beyond just age, and Chelsea's squad is still notably younger than their rivals, it does suggest youthfulness of a side does not always have to mean more red and yellow cards.

Can Chelsea's discipline issues be blamed on youth? Or is it something else? How can they fix it?

Send us your views here

Borussia Dortmund will demand a fee of around 70m euros (£61m) for 25-year-old Germany midfielder Felix Nmecha, who is wanted by Manchester United and Chelsea. (Bild - in German), external

Want more transfer stories? Read Wednesday's full gossip column

Follow the gossip column on BBC Sport

Will Faulks
Fan writer

Image source, Getty Images

Liam Rosenior's substitutions in Saturday's draw with Burnley have been questioned by some Chelsea fans.

The Blues started the game with two central defenders on the pitch, and ended the game with four, despite having lost one along the way to a red card.

You could argue that bringing on so many defensive players handed the initiative to Burnley. But there's another angle to those decisions: there simply wasn't a reliable attacking player on the bench for Rosenior to turn to.

His bench had a grand total of three league goals between them this season.

Estevao is a teenager, and missed the game with an injury. Jamie Gittens is also injured - and hasn't done much to show he deserves to be relied upon in any case. Alejandro Garnacho is fit, but clearly not in form or favour.

When you add them to the discarded pile of Noni Madueke, Jadon Sancho and Joao Felix from last summer, it's not a pretty picture. Pedro Neto has been the biggest success of all the wingers these sporting directors have signed, and even he struggles to live up to a massive £52m transfer fee on a consistent basis.

Their record of buying in these positions has been as poor as their record of buying defenders. The fact they've been able to get good fees for selling some of them shouldn't disguise their repeated failure to upgrade the options available to their coaches, despite spending huge amounts.

Rosenior brought on those defenders to protect a one-goal lead. If he had better attacking players at his disposal, that lead might have been two or three already. It's a problem that needs to be sorted in the summer, but most fans have little faith at this point that the right moves will be made to do that.

Find more from Will Faulks at Chelsea News, external

Chelsea boss Liam Rosenior is reluctant to let striker Liam Delap leave this summer, amid interest from Everton. (Football Insider), external

Want more transfer stories? Read Tuesday's full gossip column

Follow the gossip column on BBC Sport

Image source, Getty Images

Chelsea boss Liam Rosenior is yet to name an unchanged back four in any of his six Premier League matches, and we asked if this lack of continuity is a concern for you.

Here are some of your comments:

Tony: Every successful team has a settled backline/defence. That is the one area of the team you should NEVER rotate every single game. The keeper and defenders need to build a solid understanding.

Stuart: One clean sheet in six league games is concerning, especially when you consider that we haven't played any 'top' teams in that time. Injuries aside, we need to pick our best team and stick with it. If some of our best players can't play two games a week then maybe they need to move on.

Kevin: The media is Rosenior's biggest problem, looking for reasons to criticise. Let him manage - critique can come at the end of the season. Next season is when he will show his abilities. Back off - let the dog see the rabbit.

Ash: It's a concern because we're coming into the business end of the season and having a consistent back four would (hopefully) provide more defensive stability and give Robert Sanchez more confidence knowing who's in front of him each week. At the same time, the training ground can only show you so much and if Liam doesn't know his best back four then it makes sense that he is changing it weekly.

Tom: Definitely a problem and one that Enzo Maresca was also guilty of. Too many changes made to the defence during the match too. Of course, it's not helped by having to manage the fitness of Reece James and Wesley Fofana... I guess it'll be the same when Levi Colwill comes back too so it won't change anytime soon. Of all the positions, these are the ones that need to be consistent.

Liam Rosenior has yet to pick an unchanged back four for a Chelsea league fixture.

Backers of such an approach would point to the fact the six games he has taken charge of in the Premier League do not contain a single defeat for the Blues.

But pundits Wayne Rooney and Micah Richards discussed the lack of continuity on Match of the Day on Saturday in the aftermath of Chelsea's 1-1 draw with Burnley.

Asked if a consistent back four is a good starting point for a manager, Rooney said: "Yes. Absolutely. It's happened all season. It was happening with the previous manager.

"Chelsea have that many players, to juggle players around, you don't know if there's pressure from above to do that. You just don't know who the leader is in there? The defenders are similar in how they play and I don't see a standout leader."

Richards offered: "He's still trying to find his best back four."

So, is this a concern? Or are there other issues creating problems for Rosenior?

Tell us

We asked for your thoughts after Saturday's Premier League game between Chelsea and Burnley.

Here are some of your comments:

Chelsea fans

Danny: Absolutely cringe worthy watching Chelsea. It's no coincidence that we've dropped points again at home. We have no divine right to beat Burnley, but with better finishing and an experienced manager at the helm, surely we would have got three points. Nothing yet has changed from the previous manager. Dodgy keeper, squad rotation, unsettled back four, unable to see out games. Disciplinary record and the choice of subs awful. The players are reasonably good. Unfortunately, it looks like Liam Rosenior is a puppet to high management and when we don't win anything and finish sixth, the next one will come through the door. Doing my head in. Most of the people that sit round me don't go any more. They sell the tickets to tourists. This is the new Chelsea! Year of the horse shirts for sale in the megastore!

Jarvis: A display of everything that is wrong with Chelsea. Fully expect Cole Palmer to be gone in the summer. Woeful.

Alan: Wesley Fofana's sheer stupidity has cost Chelsea two points. Saying that, the whole team performance was, once again, nowhere near good enough. No top five finish, no Champions League - forget it, Chelsea.

David: I have been a Chelsea fan for 40 years. The team is full of average players - because the cost of the players they assume they are good. The new regime is happy with keeping in Europe but not interested in winning. Average team with very average manager.

Burnley fans

Rickers: Draws against Manchester United, Liverpool, Tottenham and now Chelsea show that this team can compete. Sadly, results against other teams have not been good enough across the season. Still, we keep going!

Alan: The positive is the point. The negatives is an inexhaustible list. Schoolboy defending. Constantly giving what little ball they had away in dangerous areas of the pitch. No physicality until Ashley Barnes, when it took two Chelsea defenders to mark him, leaving space for other Burnley players in the box. I am at a complete loss as to the tactics Burnley try to deploy at the start of games, as any plan instantly degenerates into headless chicken mode. Please get people in with the capability of instilling into the players the basics of facing forward and playing in the opposition half, rather than running back towards their own goal in desperation.

Vincent: This team are working very hard for Scot Parker. Unexpected draws against Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea, beating Crystal Palace away - if we're going down, we go down fighting. I think we need to hang on to Parker. He doesn't deserve boos. And never boo your own team!

David: Parker seems to be lost and devoid of ideas. It's time for the return of the king... bring back Sean Dyche!

Chelsea and Arsenal are pushing Barcelona hard in the chase for Atletico Madrid's 26-year-old Argentina forward Julian Alvarez. (Teamtalk), external

Chelsea, meanwhile, could allow defender Trevoh Chalobah to join Aston Villa this summer if the Blues can sign a replacement. (Football Insider), external

Want more transfer stories? Read Monday's full gossip column

Follow the gossip column on BBC Sport

Nizaar Kinsella
Chelsea reporter

Chelsea have equalled their highest number of red cards in a single Premier League season, matching the 2007‑08 campaign - but with 11 games still to play.

Only away at Nottingham Forest have Chelsea claimed all three points after going down to 10 men, holding on following an 87th‑minute dismissal.

Defeats against Manchester United, Brighton and Fulham can largely be attributed to red cards earlier in those matches, while Chelsea rallied well after Moises Caicedo was sent off in the home draw with Arsenal in November.

The pattern is clear - Chelsea are suffering because of their lack of discipline. They are also a team accustomed to collecting yellow cards.

They sit bottom of the Fair Play table with 86 points, having received 60 yellow cards this season. They were second-bottom last season and bottom the season before.

It is hard not to link the disciplinary record to the age profile of the squad. Chelsea have not fielded a player over the age of 28 all season and have the youngest squad in the Premier League - a profile deliberately built by the club's hierarchy.

However, Rosenior does not subscribe to youth being the main problem.

"I think youth is one thing, accountability is another," he said. "I'm accountable. I'm the head coach, I'm the manager of the team. I'm responsible for every result and every performance we have. We need players you can rely on in the moment to do their job.

"I know what we need to get there. It's not down to youth, it's down to assessing the players and identifying the ones you can rely on in difficult moments."

Rosenior also refused to single out Wesley Fofana and pointed out that the majority of red cards this season came before his appointment. Maresca himself was sent off for celebrating a last‑minute winner against Liverpool.

"Our discipline since I've come in - which is what I can speak about - has been very good," added Rosenior.

Read more Chelsea analysis

Pundits Wayne Rooney and Micah Richards join host Mark Chapman to bring you the action and talking points from Saturday's Premier League fixtures.

Watch on BBC iPlayer here

And listen back to full match commentaries on BBC Sounds:

• Chelsea 1-1 Burnley

• Aston Villa 1-1 Leeds

• West Ham 1-1 Bournemouth

Chris Wise
Final Score reporter at Stamford Bridge

Image source, Getty Images

It's always quite interesting sitting in on a Liam Rosenior press conference.

He's always firm and fair in his assessment of Chelsea's performances. But one thing he won't do is talk about anything that has happened at the club under a previous regime.

The Wesley Fofana sending-off was Chelsea's eighth red card this season, though the others all pre-date Rosenior's arrival. But it's been a fundamental problem in Chelsea's campaign - it was the reason they didn't beat Burnley and it has been the reason they've not picked up points in other games too.

From a position of prominence, albeit without ruthlessness, Chelsea suddenly lost their way and felt like they had to protect what they had. And they didn't do a good job of that.

Rosenior had four centre-backs on the pitch at the end of the game to try to nullify Burnley's aerial ability and it still didn't work. That's the other Achilles heel in this Chelsea season. Set-pieces.

Red cards and set-pieces.

But again, they are problems that existed long before Rosenior arrived.

He made a headline-grabbing comment in his press conference when he said Chelsea had "set fire to four points in their past two home games". He's not wrong.

And the draw with Burnley was more proof that there's a few more fires to put out before Chelsea can become a title contender again.