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Enzo Maresca is facing some difficult selection calls ahead of this weekend's return to Premier League action. Over the next couple of days, the Chelsea head coach will ponder a few decisions with his side taking on Brentford on Saturday.
One of them will be whether or not Reece James will feature at the Gtech Community Stadium. The 25-year-old featured in both of England's matches over the international break, with Thomas Tuchel using the Chelsea captain for large parts of the wins against Andorra and Serbia.
James was on the pitch for 68 minutes in the 2-0 victory over Andorra at the weekend and the Blues defender was then taken off at a similar time in Serbia on Tuesday evening, as the Three Lions ran riot with five goals at the Rajko Mitic Stadium. Ahead of a big game against Brentford on Saturday, Maresca may well be pondering whether to rest James, who has struggled with injury problems in the past.
Touch wood, but James has been without an injury in 2025 with Chelsea finding an effective way of using their captain. However, the risk of overusing the Cobham graduate is something that will be firmly on Maresca's mind.
Chelsea do not need to risk James, with options for the head coach at right-back. Malo Gusto has started two of the Blues' opening three league games this season, with James coming off the bench in his last two outings, while Josh Acheampong can also play in the right-sided full-back role.
Also, Champions League football is back next week. Chelsea go to the Allianz Arena on Wednesday to take on Bayern Munich, so Maresca may well have one eye on that when he picks his XI for the clash with Brentford.
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Speaking last year, Maresca explained how he planned to use his captain - with the player's best interests in mind. Almost 12 months on, nothing has really changed from the head coach's perspective, with Chelsea helping James slowly build up his physical condition before he can eventually play three games in a week once again.
"It's complicated when you get injury, injury and injury again," Maresca said last October. "It's not easy, so you are always looking for a solution. Probably the solution with Reece is the same solution we are using with Romeo [Lavia] and Wes [Fofana] in terms of using them just once a week, in one game, because probably in this moment, for different reasons, Reece's body cannot play twice a week.
"In the future, I do not know. But if we want to build something with him in terms of physical condition, then probably the solution is to allow him to go slowly."
Fortunately for Chelsea, there are a list of options to slot in at right-back. Using James from the start at Brentford on Saturday feels like an unnecessary risk and one Maresca, based on past evidence, is unlikely to take.
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