Graham Potter reveals exact reason for Joao Felix halftime substitution in Chelsea's win over Leicester City as fans fear another injury

Manager Graham Potter has alleviated concerns relating to Joao Felix's potential injury in Chelsea's 3-1 league win against Leicester City on Saturday (11 March).

Portuguese right-back Ricardo Pereira was seen planting the underside of his boot onto his compatriot's ankle in the second minute of the game. The challenge was overlooked by both the on-field referee Andre Marriner and VAR as Felix went to the ground in pain.

Chelsea opened the scoring through Ben Chilwell before Felix came close to scoring twice in the first half. He hit the post in the 24th minute before having a goal ruled out by VAR for offside 10 minutes later.

Kai Havertz sent his team 2-0 up at the half-time break to calm the nerves in the away end at the King Power Stadium. However, there was concern among the fans when Felix was brought off for midfielder Conor Gallagher ahead of the second half.

✅ 1-0 vs Leeds United
✅ 2-0 vs Borussia Dortmund
✅ 3-1 vs Leicester City

Three wins in a row. A perfect week for #Chelsea and Graham Potter! 💙 pic.twitter.com/FoJO4TxhtO

— Absolute Chelsea (@AbsoluteChelsea) March 11, 2023

This was the least amount of minutes Felix has managed in any of his eight games across competitions for Chelsea since joining them on loan from Atletico Madrid in January. Potter, however, revealed that the 23-year-old's substitution was a tactical change to beef up his midfield.

He said after the game (h/t Football.London):

"No [Felix did not pick up an injury], just tactically, I wanted to use an extra midfielder. I felt we needed someone who could ball win, a different profile and I thought Conor was fantastic when he came on."

The Blues switched their set-up to a 3-5-2 from a 3-4-3 after the English midfielder's introduction. He managed two each of recoveries, blocks and interceptions, completed all three of his attempted dribbles and won 86% of his seven ground duels after coming on.