AARON’S WAN TO WATCH!

Roy’s praise for rookie

ROY HODGSON has backed rookie Aaron Wan-Bissaka to carry on impressing against the superstars of English football.

The 20-year-old has played just twice for injury-hit Crystal Palace so far.

But those games could hardly have been a tougher baptism of fire – a debut against Tottenham followed by a clash with Manchester United.

Now he is in the frame to continue at right-back at Chelsea tonight.

Wan-Bissaka was up against Alexis Sanchez and then Marcus Rashford in United’s 3-2 win on Monday.

That was partly because Timothy Fosu-Mensah couldn’t to play against his parent club and the Dutchman is available for a comeback at Stamford Bridge today.

But Hodgson made it clear that Wan-Bissaka might keep him out.

He said: “At the moment you’d look at those two and wouldn’t think ‘it’s got to be Timothy’, you’d look at both of them and think ‘which one do I want to play’.

“It was an opportunity that came his way quicker perhaps than anyone ® would have expected, but we believed in him.

“I and the coaching staff believed he would handle it, tough ask though it was, and we’ve been proved right.

“He’s handled it very, very well, and he’s now receiving some words of praise, but he deserves them.”

Palace have not won since January 13 and have lost their last three games.

Stuck

That has left them stuck in the bottom three but Chelsea have problems of their own.

Manager Antonio Conte hit out at Gary Neville and Jamie Redknapp after the pundits criticised the Italian’s timid tactics at Manchester City.

But Hodgson warned Conte that managers usually end up regretting being sucked into public slanging matches.

He said: “I think it is wrong for professional figures within the game to take too much part within that debate.

“You could be accused of hypocrisy plenty of times if you speak too often.”