Chelsea midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek joined Laura Woods on talkSPORT on Wednesday and told the radio host she was his celebrity crush in a round of quickfire questions.
The 27-year-old was on the show to discuss the return of the Premier League this weekend and the Blues’ remaining ambitions for the season.
Woods and co-host Ally McCoist also asked the Chelsea man what life had been like under Graham Potter and what the atmosphere was like at the club given that the Blues lie tenth in the league.
Woods quizzes the Chelsea man
But before all that, the radio host put Loftus-Cheek under pressure by asking him a series of questions during a round of SOS.
The premise is simple – who would the interviewee trust, player or manager, past or present, in a certain situation?
Starting off with a simple one, Woods asked Loftus-Cheek who he would rely on to come up with an excuse for being late to training.
“Maybe Hakim [Ziyech],” he responded. “That’s my boy. I know he’d sort it out, he’ll get it done.”
Ziyech was also the man entrusted to organise his stag do, but not when it came to dating advice.
“Maybe [Marc] Cucurella,” Loftus-Cheek said when asked who would be the most help before date night. “I need some advice on how to make her laugh.”
And former Tottenham boss Antonio Conte also came up in conversation when Woods asked the England international who he would not want to be stuck in a lift with.
Woods’ brilliant response to Loftus-Cheek’s celebrity crush admission
But when asked who his celebrity crush was, the midfielder had a surprise in store.
A brief pause followed the question before Loftus-Cheek joked: “Laura Woods.”
The 35-year-old football pundit laughed off the admission, before saying, “An exceptional answer!”
Woods then signed off cheekily: “It’s been an absolute pleasure and I’ll get your number later!”
Loftus-Cheek: The Champions League is all we have
After all the questions though, Loftus-Cheek opened up about life under new boss Potter following Thomas Tuchel’s departure in September 2022.
Potter had been on a tough run of just two wins from 12 matches since the Premier League resumed after the World Cup and fans had been losing patience with the new boss.
But Loftus-Cheek insisted that the team had always been behind him.
“I think the way it looks from the outside is very different to how we feel in the club and the training ground,” he said on talkSPORT.
“We’ve got massive respect for Graham Potter and we all believe he’s a good manager. We started really well with him, we had a difficult patch, but now we’re starting to play better football.
“Through that difficult patch we stuck together and were behind him 100 per cent.”
Loftus-Cheek has made 27 appearances for Chelsea this season and has played in seven out of eight Champions League games for the west London club this season.
And the midfielder said the European competition was now the main focus for the season.
“Well we’re not going to win the league,” he said. “We’re out the Cup. Champions League is all we have.
“I wouldn’t say Champions League or bust, we’ve still got a bit more time in the Premier League to jump up the table. But for us, Champions League is where we’re at.
“Champions League is where we need to knuckle down and focus and give ourselves the best chance of winning.”
