Antonio Rudiger’s bizarre defending during Chelsea v Newcastle goes viral | OneFootball

Antonio Rudiger produced a contender for the strangest piece of defending we’ll see in the Premier League this season during Chelsea’s Premier League clash against Newcastle United on Sunday afternoon.

The 29-year-old, who is on course to leave Stamford Bridge as a free agent this summer, amused Chelsea fans with some rather unorthodox defending in the second half.

Chased by Miguel Almiron, Rudiger had enough time to simply play the ball back to goalkeeper Edouard Mendy.

The Germany international did pass to Mendy, but only after taking a couple of giants strides, which appeared to be entirely unnecessary.

What on earth was that?

Was he trying to put off Almiron? Did he just fancy giving Chelsea’s fans something to smile about?

If his intention was to do the latter then it appeared to have the desired effect.

Kai Havertz wins it for Chelsea

On what was a rather strange afternoon in west London, the deadlock remained unbroken until the 88th minute, when Kai Havertz scored a superb winner.

Newcastle felt they should have been given a penalty earlier in the second half when Trevoh Chalobah brought down Jacob Murphy inside the box but, to the surprise of many, a spot-kick to the visitors wasn’t awarded.

The result boosts troubled Chelsea’s chances of a top-four finish, while Newcastle United remain 14th.