Brutal Alejandro Garnacho decision explained in front of whole Chelsea squad

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Enzo Maresca explained his decision to replace Estevao with Alejandro Garnacho to the whole Chelsea squad at half time of the clash against Arsenal . The change was made with Chelsea down to 10 men following Moises Caicedo ’s red card.

The Blues midfielder was sent off for a dangerous tackle on Mikel Merino after just 36 minutes. With the scoreline at 0-0, Maresca made a change to his line-up for the second half with Garnacho replacing Estevao.

As reported by the Daily Mail , during the half-time break, the Chelsea boss informed Estevao of the change and explained his reasons behind it to the full group in the changing room. The substitute was to allow his team to keep hold of the initiative despite their numerical advantage.

The move saw Pedro Neto move from the left to the right wing with Garnacho coming in on the left . He was told to stay high and wide.

Full-back Malo Gusto was told to stay back more to provide more defensive solidity. Enzo Fernandez was then instructed to drop deeper, with the main striker Joao Pedro and later Liam Delap, staying higher up the pitch.

In his final few words to the squad, Maresca is reported to have told them to ‘double the effort.’ The tactical change and the message didn’t take long to pay off.

In just the third minute of the second half, Trevoh Chalobah headed in a Reece James corner to give Chelsea the lead. Arsenal equalised in the 59th minute through Merino.

Despite the numerical difference, both teams had opportunities to take all three points from the game, which ended in a 1-1 draw. It means that Chelsea remain six points behind their rivals in the Premier League table.

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They are now in third place, one point behind Manchester City in second. Following the game, Maresca praised his players for their performance,

He said: “I think sometimes you have to be happy even with one point. For sure, the target was to win the game. Again, 11v11, I think we were a better team than them.

“We managed the game, we controlled the game, we created chances and we didn't concede anything. Then the red card changed a little bit the dynamic, but even with that, I think the way the players dealt with that and were outstanding.”

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