Chelsea
Reece James stands out as Chelsea beat AC Milan
Reece James produced a stellar performance for Chelsea as they outclassed AC Milan in the Champions League at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night.
The London giants had picked up just one point from their first two group stage matches and the pressure was on them to perform against the Italian champions.
They managed to do so with a superb all-round performance. James was the pick of the players, bagging an assist before scoring a goal of his own in the 3-0 win.
Apart from his goal and assist, the England international managed 99 touches and completed 51 passes. He won an impressive eight duels and three tackles as well.
It was a truly world-class performance from the Blues graduate and manager Graham Potter was quick to praise him as a fantastic player, who could be a club legend.
James made his debut under manager Frank Lampard three years ago, and has since gone from strength-to-strength. He is now an undisputed starter at right wing-back.
The position obviously suits him well. While he has strong defensive qualities, operating from right wing-back gives him more freedom to express himself in the final third.
At 22, he has been putting in out-of-the-world performances. As Potter said in his post-match press conference, the sky is the limit for James, who is just entering his prime.
James is a guaranteed starter at the moment for Chelsea, but Potter should still balance his work load in the coming weeks as there are 11 more matches before the World Cup.
The club graduate suffered an untimely setback towards the end of last year which hampered Chelsea. They should not overplay him and should give him a breather in between.
Chelsea will return to Premier League duty this weekend with a home meeting against Wolverhampton Wanderers. They should be front-runners to win against the Midlands side.