Everybody wants him to stay – Tuchel hails Rudiger and Chelsea defence after defeating Leicester

Thomas Tuchel insisted everybody at Chelsea wants Antonio Rudiger to stay after his side cruised past Leicester City 3-0 on Saturday.

Rudiger opened the scoring for the Blues, the centre-back’s fourth goal against the Foxes in the Premier League – against no other side has he netted more than once in the competition.

N’Golo Kante struck 14 minutes later against his former club before substitute Christian Pulisic added a third as Chelsea collected their fourth successive away league win without conceding for the first time since December 2008.

Delighted with his side’s defensive work and overall performance, Tuchel praised his backline while providing an update on Rudiger’s future.

“[Rudiger] has been outstanding from the first game and the defensive performance was as strong as ever, they deserve the praise for it,” Tuchel said post-match to BT Sport.

“They do a lot of invisible work, they protect each other at the back and they are brave when they go forward up front when we want to be dangerous from set-pieces.

“Everybody wants him to stay. He’s brilliant here and it’s pretty clear but sometimes there’s a delay in these things. I think we’re on the same side. He knows he plays for a fantastic club in a fantastic league.

“He’s a wonderful competitor and if he has a bit of patience hopefully we will make it happen.”

67% – Of all players with 10+ goals, only André Schürrle (82%) has scored a higher share of Premier League goals away from home for Chelsea than Christian Pulisic (67% – 10 of 15). Travelled. pic.twitter.com/os8AHz9ser

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) November 20, 2021

Tuchel also found time to praise Kante, who scored his second goal in his last six league games, as many as he had in his last 51 matches in the English top flight.

“N’Golo is outstanding. He finds another gear on the pitch, when he plays with a free mind he can be the difference,” Tuchel added.

“We want to push over and over again. I am happy with the way we played and the result.

“We played a good away game, excellent result, a good mixture. We created a lot of half-chances, we were a bit unlucky with offsides but I am happy if we create. We need to be strong from first to last minute. It was a deserved win.

“At two goals, anything can happen and the stadium can wake up but we did not allow them into the game and finished them off.”