Callum Wilson has warned his Newcastle United teammates to expect “trash talking” and a big physical battle when they come up against Antonio Rudiger today.
Our top scorer remains sidelined, so won’t be fit to feature at Stamford Bridge today, but he’s revealed just how tough the Chelsea centre-back is to play against.
Instead, it’ll likely be Chris Wood who comes up against the big German; who is expected to return to Thomas Tuchel’s side after he was rested in their 3-1 win at Norwich on Thursday night.
As it happens, The Telegraph reported just a few days ago that we were planning to make an audacious summer move for Rudiger, with him set to leave Chelsea on a free transfer this summer.
Here’s what Wilson had to say about him when speaking on the BBC’s Footballer’s Football Podcast ahead of the game:
“He’s one player who loves to wrestle with you and fight with you on the pitch.
“Then you think, ‘oh, I’ve met my match here today’.
“He’ll give you one, then you’ll give him one. He’s a good player to have battles against.
“He always talks on the pitch. He loves trash talking.
“Everyone I’ve spoken to says he’s such a nice guy off the pitch…then on the pitch he’s someone who you hate – so annoying and frustrating.
“But that’s the sign of a top centre-half.”
