Maresca’s team decision against Spurs gives huge clue about where Reece James’ will play tomorrow | OneFootball

When the teamsheets for Thursday night’s game against Tottenham came out, there were a few surprises.

Wesley Fofana being out of the squad injured was one, but another was Reece James on the bench. He has finally been able to play consistently since January, and after a long international break we fully expected the captain to be in the team against our rivals.

The fact he was out but on the bench was interested – he’s fit, but manager Enzo Maresca didn’t want to use him. It’s not fatigue, so really there can only be one conclusion – Maresca wanted to keep him fresh for this Sunday’s game against Brentford.

We didn’t agree with the decision – we always want our best players playing again our biggest rivals, especially a homegrown captain. But we made it through with a win and now we have the prospect of unleashing an extra fresh James against the Bees.

They’ve caused us plenty of trouble since their promotion to the Premier League, and this is a great opportunity to consolidate the good result against Spurs with another huge 3 points in the quest for the top 5.

Maresca could deploy James in midfield 3 against physical Brentford

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

The question is how Maresca will use him. He’s doesn’t seem to like using him at full back, with his reasoning being that he wants to protect his fitness:

“Full-backs when they play up and down, they spend much more [energy] than when they go inside, for big distances and for the amount of times they go up and down,” Maresca said before the Spurs game.

“The way we are using him [in midfield] can help him [stay fit].”

Given that, and given Thomas Frank’s side will present a big physical challenge, we wouldn’t be at all surprised to see Chelsea use a midfield 3 featuring James alongside Moises Caiedo and Enzo Fernandez.