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Posted By MrCover On October 6th, 2025

Former England stars, Alan Shearer, Micah Richards and Gary Lineker, has praised Chelsea star Josh Acheampong for ‘stepping up’ during the club’s defensive injury crisis.

Chelsea downed Premier League title holders, Liverpool 2-1 over the weekend.

Chelsea have since the likes of Reece James, Benoit Badiashile, Levi Colwill, Wesley Fofana and Tosin Adarabioyo Aldo ruled out for varying degrees of injuries.

Badiashile limped off in the second half against Liverpool.

Colwill is expected to miss the majority of the 2025-26 campaign.

Acheampong was called upon due to these injuries and was handed a start in Chelsea’s 2-1 victory over Liverpool.

Shearer, a former Newcastle United man, told The Rest Is Football podcast, “He did well, didn’t he?

“When you consider the injuries, particularly defensively that Chelsea had, for him to come in and step up like he did… I was impressed with him. He had a good game.”.

Gary Lineker added, “But I mean, very assured, first time I’ve watched him in a big game and I thought, we like that.”

Richards, meanwhile, joked that he was holding a ‘grudge’ against Acheampong after picking him in his Fantasy Premier League, FPL, team.

“I was impressed [with Acheampong],” Richards said.

Acheampong, 19, made his debut for the England U21s last month in a 2-0 win over Kazakhstan.