Four Stats About Reece James’s Season So Far That Should Excite Chelsea Fans
Chelsea fullback Reece James’s breakthrough season has been extremely impressive, considering he hadn’t played a minute of top-flight football before this campaign.
His loan spell at Wigan Athletic had certainly built up expectations, but he had the extra challenge of recovering from an ankle injury which delayed his introduction into the first team.
When he did finally make his debut against Grimsby in the Carabao Cup, he made an instant impact with a goal and he hasn’t looked back since then.
Press the next page as we look at four statistics from James’s season so far which make for impressive reading.
He’s an excellent crosser of a ball
James may have only had three assists this season but anyone watching Chelsea’s matches will know he should have had a lot more due to his excellent delivery.
The right-back actually crosses more accurately than Trent Alexander-Arnold with 33% of his deliveries finding a teammate compared with his rival’s 30%.
James is strong in the air
At 6ft tall, the fullback is no slouch in aerial duels, and it is certainly one area where he is much stronger than Trent already. This season, he has won 60% of his battles in the air, with the Liverpool star having only managed to win 36.8%.
The figures are even more impressive when you consider the fact that James is also averaging more than double the number of aerial duels per 90 minutes (3.05) than the Reds defender.
Defensive duel success
While modern fullbacks are generally praised more for their attacking qualities than their defensive attributes, James demonstrates that he is equally competent in both departments.
The defender has won 63.3% of his defensive duels this campaign, which isn’t that far behind Manchester United defender Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s numbers.
James is strong on the ball
The 20-year-old is already in the top 20 right-backs in Europe’s top five leagues for dribbles per 90 minutes. He averages 3.51 dribbles which shows that he is very comfortable running on the ball.
As he gets more minutes on the pitch, James’ numbers are likely to get even better, and his dribbling ability is certainly one of the strengths in his game.
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