Reece James takes immediate Chelsea action as Enzo Maresca told exactly what he wants to hear

Reece James will have a crucial role to play when Chelsea face Everton at Stamford Bridge on Saturday afternoon

Reece James has taken matters into his own hands ahead of Chelsea's clash against Everton. The Blues will hope to return to winning ways when they lock horns with Everton at Stamford Bridge on Saturday afternoon.

Atalanta came from behind to defeat Chelsea in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday night. Joao Pedro broke the deadlock inside the opening half-hour, sliding the ball beneath Marco Carnesecchi at the near post.

Enzo Maresca's side squandered a couple of gilt-edged opportunities before La Dea equalised. Then, in the final minutes, Charles De Ketelaere put Atalanta ahead, snatching three crucial points in the race for automatic qualification to the knockout stages.

Chelsea fell out of the top eight and extended their winless streak across all competitions to four games. Eager to turn things around, James has rallied his troops ahead of this weekend's clash against Everton.

While the Toffees haven't tasted victory at Stamford Bridge since 1994, they've won four of their last five games in the Premier League. According to The Daily Mail, the Blues captain has led internal talks among the squad about their disappointing performances against lesser sides.

This season, Chelsea have seen off the likes of Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur, and Barcelona, while showing signs of great promise against Bayern Munich and Arsenal. But the west Londoners have struggled to overcome Brentford, Sunderland, and Leeds United.

Maresca will be hoping James' words of wisdom turn the tide on Saturday afternoon. In a recent interview with Stan Sport, the Chelsea captain discussed the challenges he faced when he initially took on the armband.

"When I got the role, it was quite difficult," said James. "I wasn’t fit on a regular basis; it was quite start-stop, so to have the impact on the team I wanted was super difficult at the start, but the more I’ve played and stayed healthy, it’s been much easier to grow into that role."

Maresca appointed James as captain in the summer of 2024, and after a few months, the Chelsea boss claimed that he 'expected more'. Speaking to reporters following the Blues' 3-1 win over Liverpool in May, he said: "He is on the way, he’s doing well, he’s progressing.

"But from Reece, I expected more also in terms of leadership," added Maresca. "Most of the time when they are captain, they think that because they are captain, they have more, ‘because I am the captain, I expect that you give me more’.

"For me, because you are the captain, you have to give more. You have to give more than the rest. And sometimes it’s, ‘okay, I am the captain, I can give less,' no.

"He’s one of the captains and I expected from him, and his teammates expected from him, to give always more in terms of leadership in general."

Maresca continued: "He is a reserved guy, but not only him. I think we don’t have a proper leader. We don’t have those guys. Probably Tosin [Adarabioyo] is one of the guys that is. So the rest we need to build them."

Chelsea are the youngest team in the English top-flight, with an average age of 24 years and 185 days, while Everton are the oldest at 28 years and 125 days. At 26, the Blues boss will hope James can weather the storm this weekend.