Thomas Tuchel has explained why he has decided to play midfielder Saul Niguez as a defender.
Tuchel said he will now use the Spain International at left wing-back for Chelsea.
Saul has been unable to show his real worth since completing his surprise loan move from Atletico Madrid to Stamford Bridge in the summer.
The Spaniard only made four appearances for the Blues this season and was subbed off at half time in the 2-1 victory over Watford on Wednesday evening.
Chelsea's left back, Ben Chilwell may be out for the remainder of the campaign as he may require knee ligament surgery.
This means that Chelsea are now heavily reliant on Marcos Alonso to step up but the German gaffer see Saul as the capable of deputising for Alonso.
When asked on Friday about the possibility of playing Saul as a wing-back during his press conference ahead of the Blues West Ham tie on Saturday, the former Borussia Dortmund manager said, "Yeah, he's still adapting.
"He had an early yellow card [against Watford], he was a bit shy to play all-in in the duels.
"For that we lacked a bit of his physicality because he did not want to risk a red card which was a good thing on that evening because we did not want to be one man down.
"I think that he could play in the wing-back role for us.
"Even if we play a dominant game and an offensive game because he's very strong in arriving in the opponent's box, very strong in finishing and has good timing to arrive on the second post with his head.
"We sometimes do this in training, that's why we have the impression that he could maybe be a good fit. Maybe in the next games we have to try it because Chilly is out long term and a lot of games are coming and we cannot put every game on Marcos' shoulders."
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