Gonzalo Higuain, Chelsea

'He's played for Real Madrid & Juventus but this is different' - Higuain's Chelsea progress hailed by Rudiger

Gonzalo Higuain has seen his progress at Chelsea hailed by Antonio Rudiger, with the former Real Madrid and Juventus striker still finding his feet in the Premier League.

The Blues moved to land a prolific frontman during the January transfer window after seeing Alvaro Morata and Olivier Giroud fail to deliver the required attacking spark.

Higuain has been taken on loan from Juve with an option to buy and has already contributed three goals through eight appearances.

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At 31 years of age there is not a lot that the Argentina international has not experienced, but Rudiger admits even the very best require assistance when arriving in English football.

The German defender told Chelsea’s official website after seeing a talented team-mate find the target in a 2-1 derby win over Fulham: “Higuain’s goal was impressive. This is how he is. He is trying his best and working for the team.

“Although he’s an experienced player who has played for Real Madrid and Juventus, this is a different competition.

“You also need to adapt and we as players need to help him as much as possible, and he can help himself by scoring goals.”

Higuain’s effort against Fulham, which was added to by Jorginho, has kept Chelsea in contention for a top-four finish.

The Blues sit just two points off the pace at present, with Rudiger conceding that they now face 10 finals in an ongoing bid to secure Champions League qualification for 2019-20.

He added: “A London derby presents its own challenges.

“Although they are a team very low in the table, they tried and gave their all, their supporters were behind them, and there were some parts that were very dangerous. But we showed again that we can suffer.

“It was an important win. There are only 10 matches left and every one of them is a final. We started against Tottenham, we continued away now and it’s good.”

Chelsea are back in action against Dynamo Kiev in the last 16 of the Europa League on Thursday, while their next Premier League outing is set to see them play host to Wolves.

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