Chelsea midfielder N'Golo Kante was not rested against Arsenal after all.
The Blues suffered a potentially costly defeat in their bid to land a top four finish on Wednesday night, losing at home to Arsenal thanks to an Emile Smith Rowe winner following a poor backpass from Jorginho.
Chelsea did have chances with Kai Havertz missing early on, while Kurt Zouma and Olivier Giroud hit the bar within a few seconds of each other, and there were also two sets of appeals for potential penalties.
But in the end, Thomas Tuchel's men were defeated 1-0, allowing Liverpool the chance to move within one point of them should the Reds win their two games in hand, starting tonight with Manchester United.
The loss came after Chelsea made seven changes for the game with Saturday's FA Cup final with Leicester City in mind, even if Tuchel regretted it.
He said after the defeat: "I'm a bit angry that we had so many changes, that's on me. I'm not so happy with the line-up.
"It was totally our fault, nobody else's...we did everything today to lose. We forgot to score at the other end and then scored an own goal practically."
One of the noticeable absentees from the squad was midfielder Kante, who was thought to have been rested ahead of Saturday's final.
But while he is far from ruled out from that final, it turns out that Kante missed out due to suffering pain in his Achilles, rather then being rested.
“N’Golo (was left out) for pain management," Tuchel told Chelsea's 5th Stand App. "He has pain in the Achilles and he suffers from that.
"There was no chance (he could play) because we miss Kovacic (too).”
Kante could yet be in the frame for Saturday, given it was only pain management rather than an out and out injury, but Chelsea fans may now be left sitting a little uncomfortably after the news.
