Chelsea should keep Antonio Rudiger on “must win” duty for December

Antonio Rudiger played 90 minutes in his second appearance of the season. Chelsea needed him for the complete game against Lille, and they should aim to preserve him for the next game of similar importance.

Antonio Rudiger’s second start of the season lasted twice as long and went incomparably better than his first. With Fikayo Tomori nursing a slight hip injury and Andreas Christensen having had a short run of spotty performances, Frank Lampard’s needs and Rudiger’s readiness converged on Chelsea’s must-win final game of the Champions League group stage.

Unlike many players returning from prolonged injury, Rudiger did not show much dullness or tentativeness in his play. He read the game well, was never caught out of position or a step behind physically or tactically, and integrated well into Frank Lampard’s tactics despite having played the last two seasons under the very different regimens of Antonio Conte and Maurizio Sarri.

This is a testament to how well Chelsea’s sports medicine and coaching staffs worked together to bring him back to match readiness. In addition to all of the necessary physical tests, which he obviously passed, Rudiger certainly had significant match simulation experience or participation in very closed doors, very off-the-record friendlies. There was no sign that he was brought back prematurely to cover for the convergence of Tomori’s injury and Christensen’s performance.

Now that Rudiger is demonstrably match-ready, Chelsea’s goal must be to keep him that way, until it no longer becomes notable that he is in the squad performing at his usual high level.

Chelsea’s upcoming run of games support a controlled and responsible return to the regular XI. Chelsea have 15th-place Bournemouth on Saturday and then have eight days off until facing Tottenham. They face Arsenal one week after that, with relegation-bait Southampton on the Thursday in between.

Lampard and his staff can take a few different approaches to Rudiger’s involvement over the rest of the month.

Starting him against Bournemouth may be too much, too soon. After not playing for nearly three months, two starts in four days could be an overload.

The game against Tottenham will be much more demanding and more important than Bournemouth. If Lampard had to choose one of those two games to play Rudiger, he would likely choose the Tottenham game.

On the other hand, he may want to stay with his most-used pair of Kurt Zouma and Fikayo Tomori against the stronger opponent, assuming Tomori is fit. In that case, he may play Rudiger against Bournemouth – assuming the sports medicine staff confirms there is no increased risk from the short turnaround time – knowing he would then have 10 days until his next potential start. He could partner Rudiger with Andreas Christensen to give Zouma a rest ahead of the Tottenham game. Zouma has played every minute of every game since October 2.

The same factors would come into play the week following Tottenham. Southampton are a point behind Bournemouth and will be another chance to rotate, rest or experiment with a minimal risk in order to preserve the best XI for Arsenal.

Antonio Rudiger showed against Lille that he will likely be in Chelsea’s best and regular XI within a few months, but prudence demands that it not happen for those few months unless he has been gaining significant match experience without anyone knowing it over the last few weeks.

Any attempt to force him into the side, especially when a passable if not great option exists in Andreas Christensen for games against not particularly difficult sides like Bournemouth and Southampton, could be a setback that will cost Chelsea his services for the balance of the season.

Chelsea made smart use of Antonio Rudiger in a game they had to win. The best way to ensure they have him for future must-win games is not to rush him back for games Chelsea can (at the very least, should) win without him.