Chelsea were not great in the first half against Burnley, looking slow and sluggish after an international break.
We weren’t at all surprised to see Enzo Maresca make changes – but we were a little surprise about the switch he made. Reece James came off, and Benoit Badiashile came on. That meant Trevoh Chalobah shifting to play where James had been on the right hand side of defence.
Fans fear the worst after Reece James sub
Reece James smiles after being subbed off.
Given James’ injury history, any time he comes off there are worries that he’s hurt himself.
But a long delay before the restart because of technical problems with the assistant referee’s communication system gave the TV cameras plenty of time to pick up on James coming out of the dressing room. He looked pretty happy, and the commentators agreed that the whole thing looked like a planned half time sub.
It gives James the chance to play in both huge games next week, and least in part, and gives Badiashile 45 minutes to build up match sharpness.
We will hear more from Maresca after the game, but we’re pretty convinced that he will say, as he’s said in a few situations this season where he’s made half time subs, that this was the plan all along. So far it’s worked OK in this second half – we always miss James, but it’s a risk worth taking if he can play against Arsenal and Barcelona next week.
In other Burnley news…
Chelsea’s only real moment of attacking quality in the first half gave the Blues the lead, when Jamie Gittens bent in a superb cross for Pedro Neto head in.
Before kick off, Enzo Maresca discussed the Cole Palmer situation and gave a relatively positive report on the attacker’s progress following his freak foot injury.
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