Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel admits he was 'unfair' towards Kurt Zouma when he first arrived at the club.

Zouma has recently returned to the fold after initially being dropped by Tuchel upon his arrival at the club in January.

But Tuchel has explained how his familiarity with Antonio Rudiger motivated his decision, and not his dissatisfaction with Zouma.

He said of Rudiger: "Since day one we chose him in the first match, it was an unfair decision against Kurt, but he is German and I had a clear picture of what he can do because I followed him a bit more than Kurt Zouma.

"So it was an unfair decision and I had a clear picture of what I can ask of him and what he is capable of delivering to a team."

But Tuchel doesn't have any regrets as Rudiger has delivered for him.

"He took the chance and since then it is absolutely well deserved that he is in the team.

"He is kind of an aggressive leader, has a natural aggression in him, hates to lose, hard to beat in duals, very very brave and full of energy in defending.

"He's leading by example, has a positive aggression, this is what we like and when he can channel all this into top performances we are very happy to have him."