Reece James says Chelsea can go ‘toe-to-toe’ with PSG – and provides update on his fitness | OneFootball

Reece James says he and his Chelsea team-mates are not phased by the task of facing PSG.

PSG have been in scintillating form and have humiliated some of the best teams in the world, including Real Madrid in the Club World Cup semi-finals and Inter Milan in the Champions League final.

But James says Chelsea have come a long way in recent months – and can compete with Luis Enrique’s side.

“We are preparing like it is any other game,” the Blues skipper said.

“It is a final but we prepare every game to win. This game is a super high level game. They are one of the hottest teams in the world at the moment.

“This is a final, a one off game, they are down as strong favourites. I have been in finals where I have played for the favourites and not come out on top so this doesn’t mean much to me and I don’t care to be honest that everyone is bigging up our opposition.

“PSG have beaten all the English teams, they have an amazing team but we have an amazing team and have surprised a lot of people.

“We’ve come a long way on our journey from where we started. We are preparing right and going there to win. I believe we will go toe-to-toe. Stats, data, favourites and not favourites doesn’t mean anything to our team.”

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Chelsea have had a fairly straightforward run to the final, their toughest test being Benfica, while PSG have already beaten Atletico Madrid, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid on their path to the final.

James, however, says that dealing with the pitches and climate in America has been the toughest challenge for Chelsea: “The biggest challenge has been the circumstances we have been playing in. The travel, the quality of the pitches, the climate is so hot. No one in Europe is used to this heat.

“Playing at 3pm at the hottest time of the day is super difficult to adapt to. The game will probably be harder for the team that doesn’t have the ball because you will be running more but both teams will be playing in the same conditions. We have been playing in it for a while so we are slowly, slowly getting used to it.”

The 25-year-old missed the quarter-final win against Palmeiras after pulling out in the warm-up due to muscle tightness. He then came on as a substitute against Fluminense, but he was keen to stress that he is not nursing an injury.

“Just to be clear, I wasn’t injured so let’s put that to bed,” he said.

“I wasn’t feeling so good in the warm up. With my history, I could have played, but it was a warning so it would have been why did I not listen (if I got injured). So I decided not to take an unnecessary risk. Thankfully we won that game.”