Conte explains why Christensen has been preferred to Luiz
Antonio Conte says that Andreas Christensen has been preferred to David Luiz in recent games for to tactical reasons.
The Brazilian was match day squad against Manchester United and was left on the bench for the trip to West Brom on Saturday and Conte with Christensen preferred ahead of him and, as reported by London Football, the manager says he’s simply been picking teams that he think can win matches.
He said:
I have always answered that it was a tactical decision. Every game I have to try to make the best decision for the team, and if I’m taking this decision it means Christensen is deserving to play. n the past it happened the same at the start [of the season] with Eden. Before he was completely fit he was on the bench, and then [we went] slowly, slowly to find the right form.
The Italian went on to suggest that, during this busy period of games, he’ll be rotating his defenders in order to keep them fit and fresh and he said he is glad to have the options to be able to do that as he felt like he couldn’t last season due to a lack of options.
I think Christensen is playing very well but we have to play a lot of games, and we have to play every three days. We need all the players and to have different solutions [is a positive] — last season in this position I didn’t have this opportunity.
Chelsea face a long trip to Qarabag and back this week before they face Liverpool on Saturday evening, so Conte will be glad to have the opportunity to rotate his defensive players.
The Blues have a very congested fixture list right up until the New Year so we can expect Luiz to feature at some stage, along with the likes of Gary Cahill, Cesar Azpilicueta and the other Chelsea central defenders.