Chelsea boss Rosenior standing firm on Fernandez: “He’s apologised but won’t play against Manchester City.’

Enzo Fernandez will not be rushed back into the Chelsea side for Sunday’s crunch Premier League clash with Manchester City despite apologising for comments he made suggesting he wanted to live in Madrid.

The Argentina midfielder admitted he was tempted by the idea of living in the Spanish capital while away on international duty, sparking speculation he was hankering after a move to Real Madrid this summer.

Chelsea issued Fernandez with a two-game ban, the first of which was served in last week 7-0 drubbing of Port Vale in the FA Cup.

The former Benfica midfielder has since said sorry for his comments but Rosenior says the ban will remain in full and he won’t be considered for this weekend.

The Blues boss said: “I’ve had a really good chat with Enzo, three or four with him, he’s apologised to me and the club. We’ll deal with that after a massive game on Sunday. It was a serious meeting about something serious.

“I’m not questioning his character or who he is as a person but I believe people make mistakes and you can’t overstep the punishment for the mistake. There’s a few obstacles we still need to get through but I won’t go into that.

“There are certain values and cultures that I believe in that make the club stronger if you get them right.”

Chelsea have not won any of their last nine meetings with Manchester City but go into the game needing three points to maintain their push for a top-five finish and a Champions League spot.

Asked if his side can get one over on Pep Guardiola and City, Rosenior added: “Of course we can. We’re a very good team, we’ve gone through a difficult run. When I analyse the games we have had, we’ve caused every team problems but not had the results for that.”

Enzo Fernandez stats

Fernandez has made 30 appearances for Chelsea this season, starting 29 times and playing for 2,583 minutes.

He has the second-most touches of any player in their squad, with 2,153, and has made 17 interceptions, as well as winning 21 of 48 tackles.

Of his 1,677 passes, Fernandez has supplied three assists, 48 key passes and 10 crosses, accurately finding a teammate 86% of the time.

An 89% short-passing accuracy is 2% below the team average, but Fernandez is 13% above Chelsea’s average accuracy for long passes, recording 58%. He has also been booked eight times.

Here’s a look at his goals record in 2025/26 at the time of his sanction.