Liam Rosenior vs. Arsenal: Should Mikel Arteta's staff have 'stayed in their f****** half'?

Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta has responded to Liam Rosenior's criticism of his team's warm-ups after Tuesday's EFL Cup semi-final second-leg win against the Blues.

Kai Havertz's last-gasp strike sealed a 1-0 victory and a 4-2 aggregate success for the Gunners, who will meet Manchester City for the right to hoist the trophy aloft at Wembley on March 22.

The match itself passed by with minimal controversy, but Rosenior took issue with Arsenal's goalkeeping contingent encroaching into the Chelsea area during the warm-ups on the Emirates pitch.

The Blues boss could clearly been seen saying "Stay in your half! Stay in your f****** half!" during the incident, and he subsequently accused Arsenal of a lack of respect at that moment.

However, Arteta affirmed that goalkeeping coaches wandering into the other team's half during a warm-up is "very common", although he offered an apology if any of his staff members made life difficult for Chelsea.

Mikel Arteta comments on Liam Rosenior "stay in your half" incident

Chelsea boss Liam Rosenior on why he yelled towards Arsenal players to 'stay in their own half' during pre-match warm-ups:

"It wasn't the players. When you warm up, we have our half and the other team have their half. I've never asked my team or coaches to encroach on the other… pic.twitter.com/gMeviZ75gP
— Chris Wheatley (@ChrisWheatley) February 5, 2026

Speaking to the media in Friday's pre-Sunderland press conference, Arteta said: "I don’t know, it’s his opinion and obviously we respect everybody.

"At any point, if one of the staff members went through that, we apologise and that’s it. It’s very common in football, especially with the keepers because they have to kick long balls and all that stuff, so nothing there to comment."

The Gunners boss also delivered the latest injury updates, firstly confirming that Jurrien Timber is fine despite not being seen in the open training session on Thursday.

Bukayo Saka (hip) and Martin Odegaard (knock) were also absent from Thursday's practice, but Arteta kept his cards close to his chest on the duo, simply stating that they were progressing without guaranteeing their availability.

Mikel Merino is at risk of missing the rest of the season with his foot injury, while Max Dowman needs another few weeks to recover from his ankle problem.

Liam Rosenior vs. Arsenal: Who is in the wrong?

Down by a goal heading into the second leg of a semi-final away from home, any tetchiness or curt behaviour from Rosenior - or any coach for that matter - could be understandable.

In a dream world, teams would navigate their warm-ups with no distractions whatsoever, but it is not just opponents who can disrupt the blow - see the broadcast teams doing their pre-match build-up in the centre circle.

Arsenal and the dark arts have gone hand in hand in recent years - at least as far as rivals are concerned - but there should be no suggestion of the Gunners deliberately encroaching into the Chelsea half with malicious intent.

If a goalkeeper did not make it past the halfway line with a long goal kick, it would surely be seen as a bad long goal kick, and such incidents will continue to happen for as long as long goal kicks are part of the game.