Arizona Tribune - Rosenior impressed as Chelsea pass 'huge test' in Palace win

Rosenior has led the Blues to four wins from five games in all competitions since arriving from Strasbourg to replace Enzo Maresca.

The 41-year-old, whose only defeat came against Arsenal in the League Cup semi-final first leg, is the first Chelsea manager since Graham Potter to take six points from his opening two top-flight matches.

Estevao Willian opened the scoring in the 34th minute before turning provider for Joao Pedro after the break.

Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez added a penalty, before Chris Richards's late reply for troubled Palace, who had Adam Wharton sent off in the second half.

"I think today was a huge test," Rosenior said. "I changed the shape I played and the performance they did today makes me very pleased, because 95 per cent of the press and 95 per cent of the positioning was absolutely perfect.

"So they're engaged, I think they're believing in what they're doing. It's one game. We have to make sure that we're consistent in every game we play."

When Rosenior arrived at Chelsea, they had won only one of their previous nine top-flight matches.

Now they are up to fifth place in the race to qualify for next season's Champions League.

Rosenior admitted when he was hired that he needed to hit the ground running to silence the critics who claimed that he would be a yes-man for the Chelsea hierarchy.

French club Strasbourg are in the same ownership group as Chelsea, which raised questions about their decision to appoint him following the departure of the combative Maresca.

"I'm not thinking about being relieved or how I'm feeling," Rosenior said. "I'm just focused on the job. That's really, really important."

The west Londoners travel to Napoli on Wednesday looking to secure a place in the last 16 of the Champions League.

They currently sit in eighth place, the final guaranteed last 16 berth, and know that a defeat would likely force them into a play-off round.

Despite their strong start to his reign, Rosenior is not getting carried away.

"We've got another huge game on Wednesday. I keep saying you can't get carried away. There's still things that we really need to correct quickly," he said.

"I was not happy with our last 10 minutes. I felt we should have gone on to dominate the game further."

M.King--AT