Next in our Gameweek 24 Scout Notes, Chelsea’s last-gasp win over West Ham United.
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ROSENIOR ON ROTATION
The expected rotation from Liam Rosenior materialised on Saturday, with the Chelsea boss making seven changes.
“We didn’t get back until 5am on Thursday morning. I have a very good squad that I’m happy to use and I’ve got full faith that the players that come into the starting XI will perform at a really good level.” – Liam Rosenior on his team selection, speaking ahead of kick-off
Joao Pedro (£7.4m), Marc Cucurella (£6.0m) and Wesley Fofana (£4.4m) were among the high-profile names benched. Considering that they didn’t get onto the field until after the break, Gameweek 24 couldn’t have gone much better for them.
Firstly, their understudies all flopped. Chelsea were terrible in the first half, with Alejandro Garnacho (£6.4m), Jorell Hato (£4.6m) and Benoit Badiashile (£4.4m) all hooked at the interval.
“The individuals came off and then people will look at them. That wasn’t on them. It was a collective. There was a collective poor performance in the first half. Those players know with me, I make early changes. It doesn’t mean that all of a sudden they’re out of my thoughts at all. It was just a really lethargic performance in the first half, but the second half was everything I wanted to see.” – Liam Rosenior
Liam Delap (£6.2m), who actually stayed on for the full 90 minutes and formed a front two with Pedro after the interval, wasn’t much better.
Above: Chelsea’s set-up in the second half, with Reece James coming on for Malo Gusto in the 80th minute
And secondly, all of them made an impact – and delivered FPL points, crucially – after half-time. Fofana strode forward to cross for Pedro to nod in, Cucurella headed an equaliser after a penalty-box scramble, and Pedro centred for Enzo Fernandez (£6.8m) for the winner.
Not everyone came out smelling of roses: Reece James (£5.7m) owners had to settle for a one-pointer thanks to his late cameo.
So, then, Rosenior may have learned a thing or two about the second string – not that he’d ever publicly admit it, preferring to lavish praise on anything in Chelsea blue.
And it’s difficult to see him not rotating a bit between Gameweeks 25 and 26, especially with a cup semi-final against Arsenal to come before then:
🤜F I X T U R E C R U S H🤛
GW23 — GW29
💚 5+ full days recovery between matches
💚 4 days
💛 3 days 😳
❤️ 2 days🥴#FixtureCrushMatrix#WeAreHere #FPL #GW24 pic.twitter.com/qCo9yynFor— Legomané (@Legomane_FPL) January 31, 2026
ENZO: “ABSOLUTELY WORLD CLASS”
Someone who is swerving the rotation is Enzo. He’s on the longest run of any Chelsea player in Rosenior’s team, starting the last six matches in all competitions.
Even against Brentford and Pafos, when he’d been ill, he started. And even here, despite a gruelling recent run, he lasted the entire 90+ minutes, popping up in injury time to grab the winner.
“I think the right person scored the [winning] goal. I thought Enzo’s performance was absolutely world-class in terms of his energy, in terms of his quality, his bravery to take the ball, the amount of second balls he picked up in midfield. He’s a special player.” – Liam Rosenior on Enzo Fernandez, to Match of the Day
“I thought he was Man of the Match by far in terms of what he gave the team today.” – Liam Rosenior on Enzo Fernandez
Cole Palmer‘s (£10.4m) presence meant the Argentine lined up in central midfield. Enzo would also have been second behind Palmer for penalties, had Chelsea won one.
But while we may prefer to see Enzo in the ’10’ role, he’s still capable of crashing the box from deep. He did it in the second minute with a blocked effort; he did it in the 92nd minute for the winner.
As for Palmer himself, Rosenior called him “outstanding” – which is yet another example of how the Chelsea manager’s praise has to be taken with a pinch of salt. He really wasn’t outstanding, barely adequate. He at least got through another 90 minutes, and had a great chance to score himself late on.
“When he’s in the team, the team is a better team… but we also have to make sure that we build him, and every player in the squad, in the right way.” – Liam Rosenior on Cole Palmer
PLENTY OF POSITIVES FOR WEST HAM
The xG race below makes it seem like this was a fair result but it was harsh on West Ham, who were by far the better team for the first 55 minutes or so.
Jarrod Bowen’s (£7.6m) cross was fortunate to creep in but the lively Crycensio Summerville (£5.5m) continued his fine form, lashing in a superb second. Aaron Wan-Bissaka (£4.1m) assisted both goals.
Bowen should have added a second from a well-worked free-kick, while Taty Castellanos (£5.5m) had a decent chance from a narrow angle and Matheus Fernandes (£5.5m) had a shot repelled by Robert Sanchez (£4.9m).
Pablo Felipe (£5.5m) and Taty have made a positive impact since their arrivals, not so much in terms of goalscoring – Taty has had 14 shots in four starts without success – but in bringing the best out of those around them, Summerville in particular.
Plenty of encouragement for West Ham, then, with a winnable game at Burnley next.
They’ll have to do it without Jeanclair Todibo (£4.3m), however. He received his marching orders in injury time for violent conduct and now serves a three-match ban.
