Latest Chelsea injury news as six miss Brentford with Christopher Nkunku message and James update
Chelsea's draw with Arsenal could have been the perfect homecoming for Reece James after he made just his second apperance of the season. The club captain came on shortly after Mauricio Pochettino's side relinguished what had been near total control of the game only for things to get worse.
Few would have thought that James would have been in the position in the first place to enter proceedings with his team ahead, let alone having been 2-0 up and on top of the match. However it was a bittersweet return for the 23-year-old with Leandro Trossard sneaking in at the far post just seconds after his introduction to equalise and seal a rapid-fire turnaround.
Just like much of the game from Chelsea's perspective though, this was largely a positive moment. James had played less than 80 minutes in all competitions before this and managed to mark his comeback after over two months out. Ahead of what is a gruelling schedule to come his experience and quality will certainly be needed.
«I think we want to keep a little pressure and not only say okay, we are going to protect the result,» Pochettino said of the change he made to bring James on in a defensive move. «But in the end, when we change with Reece and Noni [Madueke], two minutes before that we concede a goal.
»It was a little bit unlucky that is the type of situation that happens in football and we feel sad but in another way we are very positive because we showed great character and personality and the team performance was really good."
When the teamsheet dropped at 4:30pm it answered a lot of the overhanging questions over the state of the squad. James had been a doubt to feature at all after such a long time out and suggestions of a possible setback over the international
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