Former Newcastle and Blackburn striker Alan Shearer has heaped praise on Chelsea winger Callum Hudson-Odoi following his performance in Chelsea’s 1-0 victory against Newcastle on Saturday.
Alan Shearer is the Premier League’s all-time top scorer with 260 goals playing for both Blackburn and Newcastle in the Premier League and has been impressed with Hudson-Odoi since coming back from injury.
The 18-year-old missed the first six league games of the season as he worked his way back from a serious Achilles tendon injury. Chelsea won just two of those games, against Norwich City and Wolves.
In its three matches since, it has taken nine points, and Hudson-Odoi has provided three assists, the most recent a cushioned pass that allowed Marcos Alonso finally to find a way past the excellent Newcastle United goalkeeper Martin Dubravka. That made him the second-youngest player in Premier League history – after Michael Owen – to set up goals in three successive games.
‘He has played three times this season and he has three assists. He had such a terrible injury which he’s come back from. He’s 18 years of age and can spray the ball around like that, left or right, and he is full of confidence,’ Shearer said on Match of the Day. ‘He can go on the outside and come on the inside.’
‘Everything Chelsea did well he was at the heart of it. He did his bit defensively which he had to do and he was hugging the touchline, and with that drive that he’s got, he makes it very difficult for defenders. ‘For the goal, he sets it up for Alonso, puts it into his path and says “go on, have a go” and that was the winning goal. Chelsea was the better team and deserved to score.
Chelsea is on a five-game winning run in all competitions and Hudson-Odoi has either scored or assisted a goal in each of them. Hudson-Odoi will likely feature in Chelsea’s Champions League clash against last year’s Champions League semi-finalists Ajax on Wednesday.
