Chelsea boss, Enzo Maresca, has explained why he decided to take off Estevao Willian at half-time in their 3-1 defeat to Leeds United.

The Italian said he took the decision because he feared the Brazilian was going to be sent off.

Jaka Bijol and Ao Tanaka scored twice as the hosts went into the break two goals up.

Pedro Neto pulled one back for the Blues after the break, before Dominic Calvert-Lewin pounced on a defensive error to seal victory.

The result leaves Chelsea nine points behind table toppers, Arsenal.

Estevao was shown a yellow card at the end of the first-half for a challenge on Gabriel Gudmundsson, tripping the Sweden international.

Maresca said he felt he had no choice but to withdraw the winger.

“I think the feeling with Estevao was a little bit, ‘welcome to Premier League, welcome to Leeds’,” Maresca said in his post-match press conference.

“The impact for him must have been probably a big, big impact for him. The reason why we changed him is because he was already a yellow card.

“Sometimes when you are 18, you struggle to manage emotion, so it was better to change him and to avoid any red card.”