West Ham United lost 3-1 at home to Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday night.
West Ham United boss Manuel Pellegrini has told Football.London that he substituted Felipe Anderson at half-time against Tottenham Hotspur last night in order to save him for the weekend.
The Hammers were back in action on Wednesday night, and were looking to knock London rivals Spurs out of the Carabao Cup after conceding late on to draw 1-1 at Leicester City on Saturday afternoon.
However, West Ham fell flat against Spurs, going 2-0 down to a Son Heung-min brace, before Robert Snodgrass put in a corner for Lucas Perez to score.
Spurs grabbed a third late on though, as Christian Eriksen’s corner was turned home by Fernando Llorente, giving Spurs a 3-1 win at the London Stadium.
West Ham named a strong side for the game despite facing Burnley this weekend, and playmaker Anderson was curiously substituted at half time last night.
The Brazilian was played in his preferred attacking midfield role but still didn’t impress, and was hooked at half time by Pellegrini in favour of Snodgrass, who contributed the assist for the equaliser.
After the game, Pellegrini clarified the situation, and revealed that he substituted Anderson in order to save him for Burnley this weekend, as he didn’t want to play him for more than 45 minutes.
“I didn’t want Felipe to play more than 45 minutes,” said Pellegrini. “He is going to play on Saturday,” he added.
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