Antonio Conte had to break his rule of not explaining to players why they are out of his starting line-up when it came to Dejan Kulusevski because he found the decision to drop the Tottenham attacker so difficult.
The 22-year-old has been left out of the past three Spurs starting line-ups, despite impressing whenever he has played. Kulusevski has provided 16 goal involvements in his first 24 Premier League matches - 10 assists and six goals - and that's not to mention his involvement in the earlier parts of moves that led to goals.
However, Conte has decided in recent games to go with Richarlison and Son Heung-min as his attackers on either side of Harry Kane. The Italian admitted that he usually does not explain his decisions to his players but this time he felt he had to speak to Kulusevski to ensure he kept his trust.
