What Chelsea training suggests about Rudiger’s availability and how Blues could line up vs Brentford
A fresh insight into Chelsea defender Antonio Rudiger’s availability for the club’s meeting with Brentford on Saturday has been forthcoming online.
Rudi doubts
Concern surrounding the wellbeing of Chelsea standout Rudiger of course began to spread last weekend.
The 28-year-old, fresh off a stellar opening to the campaign, was unsurprisingly called up by Germany, for the nation’s latest round of international fixtures.
Rudiger started and featured for all 90 minutes last Friday night, as Die Mannschaft got the better of Romania in a World Cup qualifying clash.
Thomas Muller comes on. Thomas Muller scores the winner 🇩🇪
He’s unmarked at the back post and makes no mistake from right in front.
Germany survive a scare against Romania, and Hansi Flick maintains his 100 percent record as national team coach.#OptusSport pic.twitter.com/5bBdzdlE6b
— Optus Sport (@OptusSport) October 8, 2021
In turn, it was no doubt viewed as a blow by supporters of not only Germany, but also Chelsea, when word began to surface that the ex-Roma man had picked up an injury.
After he missed out on a spot in the country’s matchday squad to face North Macedonia, the official Twitter account for the German national team confirmed that Rudiger was suffering with ‘back problems’:
ℹ️ @ToniRuediger is unavailable tonight due to back problems.#DieMannschaft #MKDGER pic.twitter.com/UecFc76XRI
— Germany (@DFB_Team_EN) October 11, 2021
Key defenders absent
Thomas Tuchel and co., back in West London, had therefore since been waiting with bated breath for a further update on the fitness of their defensive stalwart.
And though official word has not yet been coming courtesy of Chelsea themselves, the latest images stemming from the club’s training ground paint an altogether clear picture of the situation.
As per a whole host of sources, ‘Rudi’ was not spotted at Cobham on Thursday afternoon.
As a result, the German is viewed as highly unlikely to feature in the Blues’ return to Premier League action versus Brentford this weekend.
Lukaku back in training. Covered earlier in the week. Slight concern that Rudiger is absent, particularly as Thiago Silva is expected to miss out. Azp alongside Christensen and Chalobah with Reece James on the right 🤔 #CFC 🔵
🎥 https://t.co/vGj3XNOFufhttps://t.co/yOAa51Jwlj
— Ben Dinnery (@BenDinnery) October 14, 2021
With Thiago Silva also looking set to miss out ahead of a late return from international duty with Brazil, Thomas Tuchel therefore appears likely to rely on a back-5 of Reece James, Cesar Azpilicueta, Andreas Christensen, Trevoh Chalobah and one of Marcos Alonso or Ben Chilwell at the Brentford Community Stadium.
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Premier League table
| # | Team | MP | D | P |
| 1 | Chelsea FC | 7 | 12 | 16 |
| 2 | Liverpool FC | 7 | 11 | 15 |
| 3 | Manchester City | 7 | 11 | 14 |
| 4 | Manchester United | 7 | 8 | 14 |
| 5 | Everton FC | 7 | 5 | 14 |
| 6 | Brighton & Hove Albion | 7 | 3 | 14 |
| 7 | Brentford FC | 7 | 4 | 12 |
| 8 | Tottenham Hotspur | 7 | -4 | 12 |
| 9 | West Ham United | 7 | 4 | 11 |
| 10 | Aston Villa | 7 | 1 | 10 |
| 11 | Arsenal FC | 7 | -5 | 10 |
| 12 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 7 | -1 | 9 |
| 13 | Leicester City | 7 | -3 | 8 |
| 14 | Crystal Palace | 7 | -3 | 7 |
| 15 | Watford FC | 7 | -3 | 7 |
| 16 | Leeds United | 7 | -7 | 6 |
| 17 | Southampton FC | 7 | -5 | 4 |
| 18 | Burnley FC | 7 | -6 | 3 |
| 19 | Newcastle United | 7 | -8 | 3 |
| 20 | Norwich City | 7 | -14 | 1 |
| Player | Team | Goals |
|---|---|---|
| Salah, Mohamed | Liverpool FC | 6 |
| Vardy, Jamie | Leicester City | 6 |
| Antonio, Michail | West Ham United | 5 |
| Fernandes, Bruno | Manchester United | 4 |
| Mane, Sadio | Liverpool FC | 4 |
| Maupay, Neal | Brighton & Hove Albion | 4 |
| Sarr, Ismaila | Watford FC | 4 |
| Townsend, Andros | Everton FC | 3 |
| Benrahma, Said | West Ham United | 3 |
| Son, Heung Min | Tottenham Hotspur | 3 |
| Gray, Demarai | Everton FC | 3 |
| Ronaldo, Cristiano | Manchester United | 3 |
| Lukaku, Romelu | Chelsea FC | 3 |
| Calvert-Lewin, Dominic | Everton FC | 3 |
| Jota, Diogo | Liverpool FC | 3 |
| Hwang, Hee-chan | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 3 |
| Raphinha | Leeds United | 3 |
| Greenwood, Mason | Manchester United | 3 |
| Doucoure, Abdoulaye | Everton FC | 2 |
| Jesus, Gabriel | Manchester City | 2 |
| Player | Team | Red Cards | Yellow Cards |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dennis, Emmanuel | Watford FC | 0 | 4 |
| Skipp, Oliver | Tottenham Hotspur | 0 | 4 |
| Pogba, Paul | Manchester United | 0 | 3 |
| Doucoure, Abdoulaye | Everton FC | 0 | 3 |
| Rice, Declan | West Ham United | 0 | 3 |
| Cooper, Liam | Leeds United | 0 | 3 |
| Norgaard, Christian | Brentford FC | 0 | 3 |
| Tarkowski, James | Burnley FC | 0 | 3 |
| Veltman, Joel | Brighton & Hove Albion | 0 | 3 |
| Brownhill, Josh | Burnley FC | 0 | 3 |
| Etebo, Oghenekaro | Watford FC | 0 | 3 |
| Djenepo, Moussa | Southampton FC | 0 | 3 |
| Antonio, Michail | West Ham United | 0 | 1 |
| Fernandes, Bruno | Manchester United | 0 | 2 |
| Maupay, Neal | Brighton & Hove Albion | 0 | 2 |
| Jimenez, Raul | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 0 | 2 |
| Raphinha | Leeds United | 0 | 2 |
| Gallagher, Conor | Crystal Palace | 0 | 2 |
| Alonso, Marcos | Chelsea FC | 0 | 2 |
| Ward Prowse, James | Southampton FC | 1 | 1 |
| Player | Team | Assists |
|---|---|---|
| Pogba, Paul | Manchester United | 7 |
| Doucoure, Abdoulaye | Everton FC | 4 |
| Jesus, Gabriel | Manchester City | 4 |
| Salah, Mohamed | Liverpool FC | 3 |
| Antonio, Michail | West Ham United | 3 |
| Saint-Maximin, Allan | Newcastle United | 3 |
| Kovacic, Mateo | Chelsea FC | 3 |
| Townsend, Andros | Everton FC | 2 |
| Benrahma, Said | West Ham United | 2 |
| Ings, Danny | Aston Villa | 2 |
| Toney, Ivan | Brentford FC | 2 |
| Jimenez, Raul | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 2 |
| Bamford, Patrick | Leeds United | 2 |
| James, Reece | Chelsea FC | 2 |
| Azpilicueta, Cesar | Chelsea FC | 2 |
| Gross, Pascal | Brighton & Hove Albion | 2 |
| King, Joshua | Watford FC | 2 |
| Pereira, Ricardo | Leicester City | 2 |
| Alexander-Arnold, Trent | Liverpool FC | 2 |
| Rice, Declan | West Ham United | 2 |
