Alvaro Morata injury: Chelsea acted as if they knew the striker had a problem before, says Hoddle
Morata was substituted in the 35th minute of the game at Stamford Bridge with what appeared to be a hamstring problem.
The Spaniard pulled up in the middle of the pitch and immediately walked to the Chelsea bench, knowing he could not carry on.
Hoddle says it looked clear from the behaviour on the home bench that Morata had a slight injury coming into the game.
“The reaction from the bench was that they knew he was going into the game with a bit of a fatigued hamstring," Hoddle said on BT Sport.
"It’s obviously tightened up and they can’t take a risk."
Willian was the man who came on to replace Morata, leaving no out-and-out striker on the pitch.
Hoddle says that was a tactical change due to the start Man City had to the game.
“It’s interesting isn’t it," he added.
Morata: Wife wanted him out of the house after penalty miss
BT SPORT
Alvaro Morata injury: The Chelsea star was substituted in the first-half against Man City
"I think that’s a tactical reason. He’s seen that they’re getting outplayed in midfield and he’s going to play almost with no centre-forward and put an extra body in that midfield area to get more possession."
Morata has been in fine goalscoring form for Chelsea since his summer move from Real Madrid.
He scored a hat-trick in his last Premier League outing against Stoke last Saturday.
Morata also scored the equaliser in Wednesday's dramatic 2-1 win over Atletico Madrid in the Champions League.
City went on to win tonight's game 1-0, with the only goal coming from Kevin De Bruyne.
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