Antonio Rudiger is “fully fit” and ready to play for Chelsea, according to the Athletic’s Simon Johnson.
It’s been a torrid six months for Rudiger, who was ruled out just ahead of the Europa League final last season, and had a setback on his return against Wolves in September, picking up a different problem.
Since then it’s been a battle not only to shake off the injuries, but also get match fitness back. The Germany defender has been training for some time now however, and Johnson says he’s good to go:
Been well documented that Rudiger is back in training at Chelsea, but understand he’s fully fit and available to play now. Just a matter of when Lampard opts to select him. But got impression we should see him in any of the next 3 matches – Everton on Saturday is a possibility.
— Simon Johnson (@SJohnsonSport) December 5, 2019
He says the defender is “available” and it’s down to when Frank Lampard “opts to select him”, and now he’s fit we doubt it will be long. Lampard has shuffled his central defensive options around a lot this season, without finding a convincing answer to the question of who should be the first choice pair at the back.
We have no doubt he’s ready to give Rudiger another chance the moment he can. He didn’t hesitate to throw him in back in September, and there’s no reason to believe his thinking will have changed.
