Graham Potter joked he was lucky to be able to put out a team after Chelsea's 3-0 Premier League win over Wolves.
The Blues claimed all three points on Diego Costa's return to Stamford Bridge as they eased to victory over the goal shy men from Molineux. Kai Havertz opened the scoring on the stroke of half-time before Christian Pulisic and substitute Armamdo Broja secured then result in the second period.
Potter made seven changes to the side who had claimed a 3-0 win over Italian champions AC Milan in Europe in midweek, also switching to a back four in the absence of defensive duo Thiago Silva and Wesley Fofana. Asked if he was lucky to be able to put out a strong team, he quipped: "Well, you did ask!"
"Thiago [Silva] had a heavy cold at the start of the week but played against Milan," said the Blues boss. "Two days to recover is really short for him so we didn’t want to take the chance there.
"Ben Chilwell playing three games in a week recovering from an ACL injury, that wouldn’t have been the smartest thing to do to put him out there, especially when we’ve got Marc Cucurella.
"Reece James had a dead leg that wasn’t fully recovered yesterday so we wanted give him a bit of extra time and use him at the back end of the game rather than the start. Obviously we missed Wesley [Fofana] and Mateo Kovacic, three games in a week for him would’ve been too much as he has been nursing a knee problem. So, again we can use Jorginho and Ruben [Loftus-Cheek].
"Raheem [Sterling] has had a load of football this season, so we thought it would be good for him to have a breather and help us at the back end of the game if we needed him.
"It’s similar with Auba [Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang], even though he is in a great moment and forwards rely on rhythm, he hasn’t had that much football previous to coming to Chelsea and has had an injury. It felt like today a good chance to give him a breather and if we needed him at the back end of the game, we could’ve used him. That was the thinking process.”
Potter believed his side scored at crucial times in their victory over the managerless Midlands side and was delighted with the commitment his team showed.
“It wasn’t easy, that is for sure. They never are these Premier League games, especially as we played on Wednesday in a big game. To recover and prepare isn’t straight forward but we have a good group that are committed, that are together, that are fighting for each other so that is positive.
"It’s not a straightforward game, we had to fight for it and credit to the boys because they did that.”
He was also delighted to see Broja's impact off the bench, with his fine finish rounding off the afternoon as he notched his first Premier League goal for the club.
"He is going to have an impact off the bench and you can see what he brings to the team. He is having to be patient but he is working hard in training and I think that goal was a big one for him.”
