“Beast” praised by pundits after heroic man of the match performance stops Arsenal in their tracks | OneFootball

Chelsea have just drawn 1-1 with Arsenal at Stamford Bridge, a solid result given they went down to ten men in the first half.

One person they had to thank for that was Reece James, who was superb in the middle of the park. He spoke to Sky Sports at full time after being given the man of the match award:

“It’s disappointing to come away with only one point. We went down to ten men pretty early and that made it difficult. We had a lot more of the ball when it was 11 vs 11,” the captain said.

“Everyone can see where we are and what we’re fighting for. Today was a big statement, even though we wanted to win, there’s positives to take from that. We worked hard. There’s a lot of analysis from the staff that sets us up the right way to play in a way that he [Maresca] thinks will hurt them.

“I thought there might be another red. There were seven or eight players on yellows. It’s a London derby, everyone wants to win.”

You can see James speaking in the clip embedded here:

Pundits rave about “beast” James after MOTM performance

Reece James battles in midfield, (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

The pundits in the studio raved about him after the game, with Daniel Sturridge calling him a “beast.” They also noted how much his leadership had improved, a year on after being criticised by Enzo Maresca.

He really was brilliant today, running the game from the middle of the park. He was so tough and physical in a game which demanded it, but also showed his usual quality on the ball.

The assist for our goal was the icing on the cake.

In other news…

Chelsea were reduced to ten men by the nasty tackle from Moises Caicedo, which you can see here.

The pundits had their say on the challenge on Sky Sports, which you can read here.