Roberto De Zerbi has explained the timing of his decision to remove James Milner from the action at the Etihad.

The Albion boss made the switch with the fit-again veteran struggling to contain Manchester City winger Jeremy Doku.

He revealed Milner was only due to play an hour but Danny Welbeck’s early exit had already used an available window to make a substitution.

De Zerbi said: “We need Milner. We needed him today and we need him in the next games - Thursday, Sunday.

“I changed at half-time because he couldn’t play more than 60, 55 minutes.

“I had had one change for Welbeck already and it was the best decision to change him at half-time.

“The problem in the first half wasn’t Milner.

“We gave too much time to the defenders and midfielders of City to find Doku.”