Irreplaceable Chelsea star who is three players rolled into one – and it’s not Cole Palmer

Reece James is so valuable to Chelsea that whenever he’s unavailable, it feels like they’re missing three players.

That’s how the Inside Chelsea panel on talkSPORT assessed the Blues captain as he maintains his undroppable status in the side.

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James is playing in a seventh consecutive season at his boyhood club after a standout breakthrough in their famed Cobham academy.

He has won five titles with Chelsea, including the Champions League, and made 222 appearances across all competitions.

Injury issues, particularly his knee and hamstring, have prevented him from featuring more often.

But James has flourished for Chelsea this season thanks to a warmly-welcomed upturn in fitness, having made 24 starts.

It has allowed him to demonstrate his versatility, a characteristic that Matisse Armani believes is so important to the team’s success.

Why James is ‘huge’ for Chelsea

Speaking on Inside Chelsea ahead of their clash against Arsenal on Sunday, he said: “When you’ve already got a makeshift backline…

“[Wesley] Fofana suspended, who I think should be our best centre-back of those available, [Levi] Colwill is injured as well, and [Marc] Cucurella is injured.

“So you’re guaranteed to see [Jorrel] Hato, who’s 19 I think, up against [Bukayo] Saka, or you’re going to see [Malo] Gusto out of position on his wrong side.

“You need to have Reece James on that pitch in any capacity.

“He’s so capable of going into the midfield if that is what the system allows, and making it a four, outnumbering in there with [Andrey] Santos, [Moises] Caicedo and Enzo [Fernandez].

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“He’s so capable of slotting into a back three if we want to build up that way. Defending one v one in the channel, putting a cross in for an assist for Joao Pedro, taking a free-kick.

“There’s so much variety to his game, every single facet of his game is going to be needed at some point.

“And when you take all of those factors that he brings to the table away, you haven’t lost one player, you’ve lost about three.

“You’ve lost an attacking player, a defender and a leader. We can’t replace that with anyone that we have in the squad, so he’s huge.”

Armani added: “I remember at home to Liverpool, he went into centre-back because we had a couple of players getting a knock.

“You never know, we may need him to go into centre-back as a four and play as a centre-back in a two, and I trust him to do it.

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“I trust him to go in there, if it got to that time where [Viktor] Gyokeres was getting really physical, after tearing [Radu] Dragusin a new one against Tottenham [Hotspur] and he’s coming into his stride, and that physical battle is taking place.

“I could trust Reece James to go in there and physically deal with Gyokeres, so there’s so many different things that we may need.”

Chelsea, who will play Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League last 16, face a massive test against Arsenal this weekend.

Three points are needed to keep their top four hopes alive, although they haven’t beaten the Gunners in their last ten meetings.

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