Graham Potter has explained why he chose not to play Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the Premier League match between Chelsea and Fulham on Thursday night.

Potter clarified that the decision to keep Kai Havertz on the field rather than substitute in Aubameyang was a tactical one.

Before defender Kalidou Koulibaly tied the score for the Blues shortly after the break, former Chelsea forward Willian gave Fulham the lead in the first half.

Then, Joao Felix, who was making his Chelsea debut, was dismissed for a careless challenge on Kenny Tete, leaving the Blues with just 10 players.

Carlos Vinicius of Fulham eventually scored the game-winning goal in the 75th minute.

Potter then made four changes with 11 minutes remaining but left Aubameyang on the bench.

After the game, the former Brighton boss was asked why he opted not to introduce the Gabonese to help Chelsea push for an equalizer, and Potter said, “We had a back five and felt we should go to a 4-4-1-1 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 center because you know you’re going to get driven back a bit." "So that was the thinking.”

With the defeat, Chelsea remain 10th in the Premier League standings, 10 points behind 4th-placed Manchester United, who have a game in hand.