CHELSEA star Callum Hudson-Odoi was hooked at half-time against Manchester United – with Thomas Tuchel confirming it was ‘partly tactical’.
The 20-year-old started at right wing-back for the crunch top-four clash.
But he failed to re-emerge for the second half with the rest of his Blues team-mates.
As Reece James replaced him, pundits including Gary Neville speculated that he’d been hooked again, as he was recently at Southampton after just 31 minutes for poor attitude.
Hudson-Odoi returned to the bench in discomfort, with strapping and ice on his knee, but Tuchel confirmed he was only a ‘little injured’.
The Chelsea boss said: “[He was] a little bit injured.
“The reason [he was replaced] was a tactical reason and a little injury, a combination, because we switched to a back five in defence and covered the wide position from [Marcus] Rashford in between [Cesar] Azpi and Reece James.
“In the second half, that was not an option to use Callum there and that’s why it was a tactical choice.”
England international Hudson-Odoi was involved in the goalless draw’s most controversial incident.
Manchester United were convinced they should have had a penalty in the 15th minute, after the ball appeared to strike Chelsea’s No20’s hand in the box.
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Play initially continued, before referee Stuart Attwell was instructed to go over to the monitor to give it another look.
On co-commentary duty, Neville was convinced that a spot-kick would be given.
Hudson-Odoi and Azpiliecueta could both be seen berating Attwell as he consulted the replays.
Neville and United were left gobsmacked, however, when Attwell opted not to give a penalty after all.
The handball incident caused a stir on social media, with the vast majority convinced United should have been awarded a penalty.
Gary Lineker tweeted: “I hate the current handball law but under the present guidelines that’s a penalty.”
He added: “No different really to the Ndidi handball penalty in the earlier game (Leicester vs Arsenal).
“Completely inadvertent but the arm/hand is raised when contact occurs.”
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