Chelsea boss explains Miazga substitution

Guus Hiddink said he took Matt Miazga off at half-time against Swansea partly because he did not want to risk the Chelsea defender being sent off.

Miazga was booked during the first half of the Blues’ 1-0 defeat at the Liberty Stadium and interim boss Hiddink decided to replace him with Kenedy.

Hiddink said: “We had had some half-chances which we were not sharp enough to materialise.

“We went 1-0 down with some sloppy defensive work and on top of that he had a yellow card, and I didn’t want to take the risk of him getting a second yellow. That was the main reason to make the substitution.”

The defeat was Chelsea’s first in the league under Hiddink, who also brought on Radamel Falcao and Bertrand Traore in the second half.

“Every defeat hurts, but everyone knows the situation we are in, so there’s a positive side to bringing in youngsters and seeing what they can do,” said Hiddink, who started with Ruben Loftus-Cheek in midfield.

“ We were attacking and attacking, but in the final third we were not sharp enough.

“I prefer to give chances to people playing less frequently and then having the risk of defeat, although today’s defeat was unnecessary.”