Thomas Tuchel conceded Billy Gilmour was unfortunate to suffer the ignominy of being substituted at half-time as Chelsea succumbed to only the third defeat of the German’s tenure on Wednesday at Stamford Bridge.
An obdurate Arsenal side completed a rare Premier League double over their west London rivals with Emile Smith Rowe capping a fine individual performance with the decisive goal in a 1-0 victory.
The England Under-21 international capitalised on a wayward backpass from Jorginho to poke his side into a 16th minute lead that his side managed to cling onto.
Tuchel made seven changes to the side which won so impressively at Manchester City last Saturday, but Gilmour was afforded another opportunity to shine at the heart of Chelsea’s midfield.
Despite another accomplished 45 minute display, the 19-year-old did not reemerge after the interval with Tuchel opting to introduce Callum Hudson-Odoi in an attempt to add more offensive power and get Mason Mount higher up the pitch.
Tuchel explained: ‘Well, that was an absolutely okay performance. We saw they defended so deep, so we wanted to have Mason who has a better shot from 20 metres to maybe be more dangerous from distance and have an offensive player like Mason there.
‘It wasn’t because Billy was bad that we took him off. It was a tactical change where we tried to put more offensive power.
On the Scottish star’s future, meanwhile, he added: ;For Billy’s situation, we will talk after the season. Right now he is here and is doing his job.
‘It’s clear it’s very hard for him because we lacked today N’Golo and Mateo Kovacic in midfield and they are huge for us.
‘It’s not fair to this all on his shoulders but he did a fantastic match at [Man City] and an absolutely OK match today. He was certainly not the problem.’
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