Maresca admits the decision was tactical rather than having anything to do with his fitness.
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He said after the 0-3 win: "No, no, no. The reason why we changed him is because we try to protect him a little bit.
"In the second-half, they changed Kudus to this side and it was probably a big risk to keep him but there is not any injury.
"Wes is a player I really love and we love with Wes because he is doing fantastic after one year of injury. For any player that is out for a year, it is not easy and he is doing top. This is the only thing we want from him."