We could see midfield experiment repeated against Arsenal claims former Chelsea defender | OneFootball

TalkSport’s Inside Chelsea show finally had something positive to talk about today with a win over Southampton in the books.

Rather than looking back at a win over some pretty feeble opposition however, they focused on the future. They discussed Reece James’ deployment in midfield against Aston Villa last weekend and whether we might see that again while our midfield is still so light on options:

“It depends who you play against, he might consider it against Arsenal. I will guess he will want [James] available for at least one Copenhagen game,” Jason Cundy mused, pointing out the fact that the full back’s minutes still need to be managed.

“[Also] if you move Reece in there [to midfield], where does Cole [Palmer] play? We don’t play two number tens. We might see something like that against Leicester, but the lack of options Maresca has… Lavia isn’t fit. In the middle of the park we’re still light. We really are. There are only two options in the middle, either Enzo plays alongside [Moises] Caicedo, or Reece comes in there.”

You can see them discuss this point in the clip embedded here, with these quotes coming after 25 minutes:

James not a perfect option – but a useful one

Reece James warming up for Chelsea. (Photo by Chris Lee/Chelsea FC)

James in midfield is not an ideal option – it’s not his best position, and it takes him away from the right flank where he can do so much damage. We can see why Cundy is reluctant to commit to it as a great solution.

But against a very good Villa team we did look a lot more solid with another body in the middle, and it also freed up Enzo Fernandez to get forward, leading to him scoring the opening goal.

It’s certainly something we reckon Enzo Maresca is thinking about for our games against top teams to come, as Cundy said.