Christian Pulisic deserves to start for Chelsea, according to his manager Thomas Tuchel.

The American winger has only started once under Tuchel, a 1-0 win over Barnsley in the FA Cup last week.

"Today, the first change was already made in the first half from injury and Christian was a very tight decision if he starts again after the cup game, or if he comes on from the bench," Tuchel said after Chelsea beat Newcastle United in the Premier League on Monday.

"We decided for another XI to start. Unfortunately, we only had three changes which makes it very difficult to give time to the players, to let everybody play, and to have an impact with the changes of fresh legs. That makes it difficult and the third change we didn't want to use too early.

"During the match, we did what we normally do which is to only change to win the match. He deserves to start, or to come in but I could only use three guys. I hope he keeps on going and he will make an important impact for us in the future."