Alejandro Garnacho insisted Chelsea must continue to win trophies as the Blues prepare for the first leg of their EFL Cup semi-final against Arsenal on Wednesday. 

Chelsea welcome the Premier League leaders to Stamford Bridge as they aim to lay down a solid foundation for reaching the final in the competition, which they last achieved in 2024. 

They have beaten Lincoln City, Wolves and Cardiff City on their way to the final four, though all three of those victories came under Enzo Maresca, who has since left the club. 

Liam Rosenior is now in charge of the Blues, and the former Strasbourg boss got his reign off to a winning start with a 5-1 victory over Charlton Athletic in the third round of the FA Cup. 

Rosenior has the chance to add a notable scalp so early in his tenure with Chelsea and Garnacho could be key to achieving that. 

Garnacho has been involved in eight goals in his last five EFL Cup appearances (five goals, three assists), scoring twice in Chelsea's 3-1 win over Cardiff in the quarter-final.

"Sometimes people think your best moment is when you score goals, but obviously, football is more than this," said Garnacho about his quarter-final performance. 

"You're always happy when you score, and now we have the semi-final coming. It's a big opportunity for us to be there in Wembley and try to win a trophy, which is always good.

"At this club, you need to win trophies also. It would be amazing.

"It's a cup competition, a trophy, everything counts. We are really motivated for that semi-final, and hopefully we can go to Wembley."

Garna. pic.twitter.com/DSjXBmB44C

— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) January 13, 2026

Chelsea have scored more goals than any other side remaining in the EFL Cup this season (nine), with only Brighton (12) and Cardiff (10) netting more overall.

The Blues have progressed from their last three EFL Cup semi-final ties but have gone on to lose the final each time.

They last went out at this stage of the competition in 2017-18 against Arsenal, but in their only previous meeting this season, they played out a 1-1 draw in the Premier League. 

It was a game that saw the Blues play just over 45 minutes with 10 men after Moises Caicedo's sending off.

And while under no illusions about the size of the task ahead of them, Garnacho believes his team-mates have what it takes to get a result against Mikel Arteta's league leaders. 

"We know it's going to be hard, but we have already showed to the world that we can beat any team," Garnacho added. 

"For example, Barcelona, or when we played Arsenal at home with 10 players, we showed that we are a fantastic team, so we can do it.

"Of course, it's more motivation when you play against a team like this, but we don't really focus on who is the other team.

"We just focus on us, to win the game, and hopefully we can do that."