Liam Rosenior accuses Arsenal of lacking ‘respect’ for Chelsea in warm-up

Chelsea head coach Liam Rosenior admitted he lost his cool at Arsenal’s players over a lack of “respect” shown to his team ahead of Tuesday’s Carabao Cup semi-final second leg.

Sky Sports cameras captured the Blues boss in an angry exchange with the home team on the Emirates Stadium pitch before kick-off, accusing them of encroaching into Chelsea’s half.

Teams typically take half of the pitch each to warm up in, and Rosenior unleashed a side of his character hitherto unseen during his time in charge to remonstrate with the Gunners over their lack of “etiquette.”

“When you warm up you have your half and the other team have their half,” he said. “In that moment I didn’t think it was right where they were operating. They were affecting my lads’ warm-up.

“So I asked them, maybe not politely, to make sure they stay in their half. I’m not here to have mind games, it’s just what I think is right and respectful.

“There’s certain etiquette in football. I don’t have an issue with anyone at Arsenal. It was just in that moment I didn’t think that respect was shown to my team.”

Chelsea went on to lose 1-0 to a goal scored in the seventh minute of stoppage time by their former player Kai Havertz, sending Arsenal to Wembley with a 4-2 aggregate win.

It is not the first time that controversy has been stirred over the issue of pre-match warm-ups.

Former Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp would frequently stand on or near the halfway line close to where opposition teams were going through their paces and watch intently.

Critics at the time accused him of attempting to intimidate the other team, but speaking at an event in January last year he clarified the reason behind the habit.

“Actually I did it to understand the other team a little bit