Graham Potter today answered a suggestion he had tinkered too much with his recent Albion line-ups.

The head coach explained selections at West Ham and at home to Arsenal over the Christmas period.

He spoke about his decision to have Neal Maupay among his subs versus the Gunners, two days after he had netted at the London Stadium.

Asked whether he had he had tinkered too much, Potter initially asked for a definition of the term.

He then asked the questioner for specific examples.

Decisions to field Ben White at right wing-back at West Ham and Alireza Jahanbakhsh up front versus Arsenal were given.

Potter said: “It's a phrase that’s out there, ‘tinkering’.

“It's a media phrase and I understand.

“I'd like to have played Tariq Lamptey, for example, but obviously he's injured and then you have to find another solution.

“Then you look at the game and I think Ben has the capability to play in quite a few positions.

“We wanted to attack through Adam Webster and Dan Burn in the lateral centre-back positions and felt that Ben had the physicality to play against West Ham.

“I would have liked to play Danny Welbeck (at home to Arsenal) but we have two games in three days and he has a history of injury.

“So it doesn't seem the most sensible to play Danny Welbeck.

“Of course, if I was bothered about the media perception of me tinkering, then maybe I would look after myself and play Danny again.

“But Danny has a slight injury. It didn't seem the most sensible thing to play him or Aaron Connolly (who has also been injured).

“And then you can talk about Neal Maupay but, again, two games in three days is a big ask for somebody.

“We did it last year. I don't think it helped Neal too much because, in the end, he gets fatigued.

“In the end, you lose a bit of that sharpness that I think was really important for him.

“So he comes back into the starting line-up on Saturday against Wolves, fresh and recovered, which I think is positive for him.

“I think that the reality of life is we've got 28 players.

“You want to try and be fair to the guys and fair to them so that they feel that they've got a chance to play.

“At the same time, you don't want to change things too much.”

GRAHAM POTTER'S PRE-WOLVES PRESS CONFERENCE

Potter said he was consistent with his back three and Yves Bissouma ahead of them.

He added: “Yves Bissouma has probably played as well as he's ever played.

“Probably Solly March is playing as well he has ever played too.

“But clearly, if you don't win, you're always going to get criticised. So that's life.”