Football
Liam Twomey, Chelsea correspondent 6y

Chelsea's Antonio Conte: Andreas Christensen was fit to play on after blow to head

BRIGHTON -- Antonio Conte insisted that Andreas Christensen was fine to continue in Chelsea's 4-0 win over Brighton on Saturday, despite being substituted with a head injury in the second half.

Christensen received lengthy treatment on the pitch early in the second half at the Amex Stadium following a nasty clash of heads with Shane Duffy in the Chelsea penalty area, but was deemed fit to continue after being examined by club medics.

The Dane was finally replaced by David Luiz in the 58th minute at the encouragement of referee Jonathan Moss, who saw the Chelsea defender clutching the back of his head on the halfway line.

Chelsea are adamant that they followed Football Association concussion protocol to the letter with Christensen, clarifying that lengthy medical assessment revealed he had instead suffered a head contusion and was ok to remain on the pitch.

"Andreas had a contusion," Conte said. "We made a substitution, but the player didn't want to come off. At the same time, when you have the possibility to have on the bench players like David Luiz, it was simple for me.

"The referee tried to force this substitution. It was a simple contusion. The player is okay. From tomorrow's training session, he's ready."

Christensen's injury was the only blight on a highly impressive afternoon for Chelsea. The Blues earned their first win of 2018 with a scintillating attacking performance led by Eden Hazard, who scored twice and produced a sublime all-around performance that was further capped by strikes in each half from Willian and Victor Moses.

"For us, it's important that Hazard, Willian and Moses all score," Conte added. "But, from tomorrow, every single player that scored has to forget he scored and must try and score again against Arsenal [in the second leg of the Carabao Cup semifinal]. This is the most important thing: To be happy for today's performance but, from tomorrow, to think about another important game against Arsenal, another important situation to try to help the team to win."

Chelsea had failed to score in three of their previous five matches in all competitions, and Conte was pleased to see his players rediscover their clinical edge despite missing Alvaro Morata and Pedro Rodriguez due to suspension.

"In the last period, we didn't score a lot," Conte continued. "Instead today we scored four goals, we created other chances to improve the final result. We kept another clean sheet, which is very important for us, despite Brighton creating chances to score. Before the game, a lot of people had a lot of [apprehension] for suspensions and injuries. But, during the game, we showed a great personality to be a team. We started the game very well, scored twice quickly with good combinations between our strikers. This is very important and we must be happy for this."

Asked if Chelsea had averted a crisis by winning so convincingly after five consecutive draws, Conte replied: "Whoever said this has to pay attention to the stats. We're unbeaten in 14 games. It's normal that the press try to see the negative aspect and don't see the positives. But this team, with many problems, are unbeaten in 14 games in every competition.

"This means we are performing important work with these players to win in this way, despite five players less: [Cesc] Fabregas, [Danny] Drinkwater, [Thibaut] Courtois, two suspensions in Pedro and Morata. Despite this, we won 4-0. That means that every player deserves his chance, and every player has to fight to play.

"Now we have to continue in this way. I'm pleased with the responses of all the players today. You could see on our bench there were Charly Musonda and [Dujon] Sterling and [Ethan] Ampadu, the present and future of Chelsea.

"The club has committed to work with the young players to improve, and I'm doing this. Christensen is only 21 and playing every game. We are doing an important job for this club. We have to continue in this way. Every player today showed a great responsibility. For this reason, I'm very happy because every player felt this responsibility. To grow in this aspect is very important for us."

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