Enzo Maresca admitted he made a mistake when taking Cole Palmer and Enzo Fernandez off late on in the win against Tottenham on Thursday night.
The Blues picked up a huge three points with a 1-0 win at Stamford Bridge as Fernandez headed home the only goal of the game in the second half.
The win moved Chelsea back into the top four following wins for Manchester City and Newcastle on Wednesday, with the race for Champions League qualification looking like it will go down to the wire.
Maresca admits mistake against Tottenham
Chelsea were boosted by the return of Nicolas Jackson and Cole Palmer to the starting line-up, but were dealt a blow with news of another injury to Wesley Fofana.
Moises Caicedo and Fernandez were brilliant in the middle of the park, whilst the Blues stayed resolute at the back to record another clean sheet.
There was a real sense of nerves when the board went up with 12 minutes of added time and Maresca admitted afterwards he made a mistake taking Palmer and Fernandez off late on.
“And then to be honest, that’s been my mistake [bringing Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Tosin Adarabioyo on for Cole Palmer and Fernandez] because I did the change before I saw the extra time,” he told his post-match press conference.
“And when I saw 12 minutes, I saw that probably it was too early to make that kind of change. But fortunately we won the game and we are happy.”
