Reece James should look to play brand new position for Chelsea when he returns from injury

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Chelsea club captain Reece James has unfortunately endured another rough campaign as far as injuries go.

He has featured in just eight Premier League games this season, which is certainly not what he will have been hoping for in his first campaign as the leader of the Blues.

James has at least undergone surgery in the early weeks of 2024 in an attempt to put an end to what have been repetitive injuries of a similar nature.

Gusto stars in James’ absence

In his absence, Malo Gusto has been thrown in at the deep end in his first season at Stamford Bridge with the majoirty of the workload.

However, it is fair to say he has lived up to the heights that the England international has set in his career so far, with him proving to easily be one of their better players this season.

At this point, it remains difficult to see how the Frenchman can be dropped from the team when James returns to fitness.

Pochettino should start James at centre-back

There then comes the challenge of fitting both players who traditionally plays the same position as each other in the same starting XI.

One route that Mauricio Pochettino could certainly go down is changing the system permanently to the one that he tried to operate against Brentford in the Premier League a few weeks ago.

The boss looked to operate a back three, however it is fair to say he has been missing players he would name in his strongest side.

With Gusto clearly being an attacking star, he would be the first choice to occupy the wing-back role in this system.

Off the back of that, it would fall on James to feature on the right of a back three, a role he does have experience in a few seasons ago.

While this would likely limit his attacking output, it would bring great balance to a side that would likely operate Levi Colwill on the opposite side, with Ben Chilwell as the flying wing-back.