What Liam Rosenior did to Viktor Gyokeres in Chelsea vs Arsenal as gesture raises eyebrows

Arsenal beat Chelsea 3-2 in their Carabao Cup semi-final first leg at Stamford Bridge, and one moment with Gunners goalscorer Viktor Gyokeres and new Blues boss Liam Rosenior caused some controversy

Liam Rosenior’s gesture to Viktor Gyokeres during Chelsea vs Arsenal has caused quite the stir on social media. The Sweden international grabbed a goal and assist in the Gunners’ 3-2 victory at Stamford Bridge, with even new Blues boss Rosenior seemingly impressed by his display.

Just after half-time, Gyokeres swept home from just a few yards after a Robert Sanchez mistake before teeing up Martin Zubimendi to score the visitors’ third. With eight minutes of normal time remaining, Mikel Arteta took Gyokeres off with Gabriel Jesus coming on in his place.

As he left the pitch, the 27-year-old went past Rosenior, with the new Chelsea boss – in charge for the first time at Stamford Bridge – patting him on the back twice as he headed towards the Arsenal bench.

The gesture from Rosenior caused an intriguing response with some left confused by his decision to do that when his team were losing. @keithk__ wrote on X: “Did Liam Rosenior just give Gyokeres a pat on the back with his team 3-1 down? [skull emoji].”

@Shamsdale added: “Rosenior patting Gyökeres on the back as he comes off, I don’t buy this nice guy act for a second.” However, that opinion was not shared by all social media users as @thesaurus34 stated: “Rosenior just patted Gyokeres on the back after he subbed off. Cant wait for that to be blow out of proportion!”

Prior to Gyokeres’ goal and assist, Ben White opened the scoring for Mikel Arteta’s side, with Alejandro Garnacho later bagging a brace off the bench to reduce the two-goal deficit twice.

Gyokeres was named player of the match for his contributions with Zubimendi seemingly in agreement having excitedly pointed to the striker in his celebration.

Gyokeres said on Sky Sports: “I think it was a tough game. We defended well. They were, as always, dangerous when they have counter-attacks, but I think we defended well. Unfortunate to have conceded two but offensively we scored three, so happy with that.”

On scoring his first goal from open play in nearly three months, he added: “That’s what I need to do and I can do it more often. We won today and we keep going.

“It’s still a second leg but of course it’s good to come away with a win and advantage for the second leg, but we still have to do a good performance in the second match.”

Arsenal have five matches before that return leg at Emirates Stadium as they face Nottingham Forest, Manchester United and Leeds United in the Premier League.

Between those domestic fixtures, the Gunners also play Kairat Almaty and Inter in the Champions League which means the breaks are limited.

As such, Arteta will undoubtedly manage his squad over this period and with only Cristhian Mosquera, Riccardo Calafiori and Piero Hincapie on the injured list, he has the options to rotate considerably.

That is likely to include a rest for Gyokeres with Jesus and Kai Havertz chomping at the bit for opportunities. Ethan Nwaneri will also be hoping for more minutes as he is set to remain at the club for the remainder of the season, as football.london understands.