Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel has admitted that he has one eye on Sunday's match against Tottenham Hotspur while explaining Matteo Kovacic's absence for Tuesday's Brighton clash.
Kovacic has excelled this season, consistently performing in the middle of the park, providing an impressive two goals and five assists in just 14 Premier League starts.
However, the Croatia international was left on the bench for the outing to the Amex Stadium, with N'Golo Kante and Jorginho starting in his place.
Speaking ahead of the game, Tuchel said: "We have to be a little bit cautious with Kova. We don’t want to overuse him. He’s played a lot after injury and maybe we rushed him back a little bit for all these matches.
"Of course, he’s very strong and was happy to play but we have to be careful. As we have Jorgi and N’Golo back, we thought we didn’t need to take any risks with him and we could save him for this game – especially with another big game coming up on Sunday.
"Malang Sarr has had four or five games in a row and again it’s just about saving his load a little because we expect an intense game tonight against Brighton."
The German also opted to start club-record signing Romelu Lukaku against the Seagulls, despite the Belgian international struggling on Saturday afternoon during the 1-0 loss to Manchester City.
And Blues icon Joe Cole claimed that he has been surprised by Lukaku's impact in west London, admitting that he assumed the former Inter Milan frontman would hit the ground running at Stamford Bridge.
"When he brought in Lukaku, we all thought that was going to be the final piece of the jigsaw and it still could be", Cole told BT Sport.
"The whole puzzle has to work. The last month Chelsea have dropped points for the first time since he’s come in. Tonight is an opportunity to get that system going again."
The reigning European champions find themselves a whopping 13 points behind league leaders City.
