Photo: Tony O’Brien/Action Images/Reuters

Tiemoue Bakayoko didn’t have the best of games in Chelsea’s defeat against West Ham, and the 23-year-old was taken off at half-time.

After a poor first-half display, Conte opted to bring in Pedro for the second half as Bakayoko never came back on to the pitch.

In his post-match press conference, Antonio Conte revealed that it was more of a tactical change than because of Bakayako’s performance, insisting he was happy with the Frenchman’s performance.

The Chelsea boss said: “Yeah, yeah. It was a tactical decision. Bakayoko was playing a good game but when you find 11 players behind the ball and you are losing 1-0. It is important to change something and find a different solution. In this case Pedro has different characteristics to Bakayoko.

“He is better one v one and better taking on players and to lose a physical player wasn’t important after the first half. It was only a tactical decision. The player satisfied me for his performance.”