THE FUSE

Slot also lost summer signing Hugo Ekitike to injury during the match. The France international, who has scored six times for his new club so far this season in all competitions, was forced off just after the hour mark in a worrying development for Slot and was replaced by Alexander Isak, who had started the game on the bench. Slot revealed before kick-off why he'd left Isak out of his XI, telling TNT Sports: "Alex, I think in the last four weeks, he played 30 minutes. Then he played with us for 70 minutes in a game that wasn't so intense, I would say, because we dominated ball possession so much. But I think I could see that it wasn't easy for him to manage himself through those 70 minutes. So then, if you have another number nine also, who is very good, then it makes sense to play the other one, and that's Hugo [Ekitike] tonight."