Chelsea boss Antonio Conte has revealed that he hauled off Eden Hazard against Manchester United as the Belgian forward was running on empty.
Hazard faded as the contest wore on and was replaced by Pedro with 17 minutes left to play at Old Trafford, moments before Jesse Lingard scored in the 2-1 win for the hosts.
Explaining his reason behind taking off the 27-year-old, who was fielded in his favoured position out on the left, Conte confirmed that it was not due to an injury problem.
"It was a tactical decision. You have to keep the same performance for 90 minutes," he told reporters at his post-match presser. "We didn't have a great balance. Every single player has to try to work with and without the ball, otherwise we lose our balance and then we lose the game.
"His energy finished. In the first half he ran a lot, and in the second half he started in the same way, but when I see a player is a bit tired my task is to find a different solution."
Hazard set up Willian's opener against United to make it three top-flight assists this term, adding to his 11 goals.
Daniel Lewis
