Chelsea boss Graham Potter has explained he opted not to play Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in Chelsea’s 2-1 defeat to Fulham on Thursday night.

With Chelsea down 2-1, Potter opted to make four changes with 11 minutes remaining to help Chelsea push for an equaliser but Aubameyang, who returned to the bench following a back injury, was left as a substitute on the sideline.

When asked why he opted not to bring on Aubameyang, Potter said: “We had a back five and felt we should go to a 4-4-1 and keep Kai on because I felt he was leading the line and winning challenges and duels.

“We wanted to use Hakim [Ziyech] and Carney [Chukwuemeka] to break from wide and Conor [Gallagher] to break from the centre because you know you’re going to get driven back a bit. So that was the thinking.”