The German defender has been a shining light in the Blues defence since Tuchel took over as head coach, with the boss pleased with his ‘fighting spirit’ - highlighted by the fact Rudiger has played through the pain barrier by wearing a protective face mask in recent weeks.

Ahead of our Premier League clash with Leicester at Stamford Bridge tomorrow, Tuchel was asked whether he would like to see Rudiger extend his contract with the Blues and our head coach spoke in glowing terms of his countryman.

‘If Toni wants to stay at the club then he has our full support,’ explained Tuchel.

‘Nothing is better than what is doing for a new contract. He is speaking with his performances and has been amazing.

‘He is very brave and full of energy in his defending. He is leading by example and has a very positive aggressivity in him. This is what we like. When he can channel all this into top performances, we are all very happy to have him.’

Tuchel did not report any fresh injuries ahead of tomorrow’s meeting with the Foxes at his pre-match briefing, but the boss did comment on why Tammy Abraham was missing from the weekend FA Cup final defeat.

‘It's just the amount of people I can nominate for a game,’ said Thomas, on why Tammy missed out.

‘I decided to start with Timo as the nine and we also had Oli [Giroud] and Kai [Havertz] who can also play as a nine. It's not personal.

‘Kova wasn't in the squad and when he comes back, maybe I have to eliminate Andreas Christensen because of the number of players.

‘Everyone deserves to be in the squad. I understand Tammy’s frustrations and it wasn't the first time. We have other guys in the same situation. This isn't the moment to complain and explain too much. It's the moment to live in the moment as these are the decisive weeks of the season.’