Speaking at his pre-match press conference ahead of his side's visit to Bournemouth in the Premier League, Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca explained why young centre-back Josh Acheampong did not feature in the club's 3-1 loss to Leeds United on Wednesday.
The England U21 international of Ghanaian descent has struggled for playing opportunities since the start of November, making just one appearance off the bench, and it came against Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League.
Against Leeds United, Tosin Adarabioyo partnered Benoît Badiashile at the heart of defence, with Josh Acheampong among the unused substitutes.
First half goals from Jaka Bijol and Tanaka put Leeds United in control, and despite Pedro Neto's effort for Chelsea four minutes into the second half, a defensive mistake by Tosin allowed Dominic Calvert-Lewin to score a third goal.
Maresca admitted he regretted not including Acheampong in the starting lineup, but explained that starting Chalobah, Tosin and Badiashile was a tactical choice based on Leeds' attacking style.
In quotes relayed by Football.London, the Italian tactician said: "One of the regrets I have after the game is I didn't play with Josh. So the reason why we played with Trev [Chalobah], Tosin and Benoit [Badiashile] is because analysing them, we saw that most of the time they were playing long ball for Calvert-Lewin, for Nmecha.
"And so we prefer physicality to win aerial duels. But even with that, we lost most of them."
In the Premier League meeting with Leeds United, Tosin excelled in aerial battles, winning a game-high eight duels, surpassing Calvert-Lewin by two.
Ifeanyi Emmanuel
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