{"id":292419,"date":"2025-12-01T03:32:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T03:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/292419\/"},"modified":"2025-12-01T03:32:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T03:32:09","slug":"theo-walcott-breaks-down-why-reece-james-is-very-unique-after-watching-him-boss-arsenal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/292419\/","title":{"rendered":"Theo Walcott breaks down why Reece James is ‘very unique’ after watching him boss Arsenal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Despite going down to 10 men, Chelsea were able to earn a point against Arsenal and have their captain Reece James largely to thank.<\/p>\n

James was terrific in Sunday\u2019s London derby<\/a>, holding Chelsea\u2019s<\/a> midfield together after Moises Caicedo\u2019s sending off.<\/p>\n

Mark Clattenburg\u2019s thoughts on Caicedo\u2019s red card\u2026 <\/p>\n

Speaking exclusively to The Chelsea Chronicle, the former Premier League referee said:<\/p>\n

There is no doubt that Moises Caicedo deserve a red card for a shocking tackle that catches his opponent above the foot which could easily endanger the safety of his opponent. Some will argue that the early yellow cards have created this tension but that is looking for excuses for such a tackle.<\/p>\n

Mark Clattenburg <\/p>\n

The 25-year-old assisted Trevoh Chalobah\u2019s opener and was really dominant in the engine room as the Blues went on to draw 1-1.<\/p>\n

His performance really caught the eye of former Arsenal forward Theo Walcott<\/a>, who had a lot of positive things to say after the game.<\/p>\n

\"ChelseaPhoto by Ryan Pierse\/Getty ImagesTheo Walcott says Reece James is \u2018unique\u2019 because of his versatility<\/p>\n

For Walcott, James<\/a> is a \u201cvery unique\u201d player, and he has put that down to the Chelsea captain\u2019s versatility.<\/p>\n

Speaking about James on Sky Sports<\/a>, he said: \u201cJames\u2019 versatility is brilliant, it\u2019s very unique. It\u2019s a great option that Thomas Tuchel can have in certain games for England. You\u2019ve got his delivery at set pieces, which are so important for a lot of clubs and national teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I\u2019m really pleased to see in his development is his growth and leadership skills. He\u2019s been questioned in the past about whether he\u2019s a leader and a captain, and he clearly is on today\u2019s performance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Who was your Man of the Match vs Arsenal? <\/p>\n

Despite playing in midfield lately, many would still consider the England international as one of the best right-backs in the Premier League<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Pat Nevin prefers a fit James to Jurrien Timber<\/a> despite the Arsenal star excelling himself this season.<\/p>\n

With Malo Gusto performing well in the right-back position, Chelsea fans could see James continue in midfield.<\/p>\n

\"ChelseaPhoto by Darren Walsh\/Chelsea FC via Getty ImagesReece James at home in midfield<\/p>\n

Honestly, considering that James is such a complete full-back, at times, it does feel like Enzo Maresca<\/a> is wasting him when he starts him in midfield. However, right now, the Chelsea academy<\/a> graduate is playing exceptionally well there.<\/p>\n

While James may very well be the complete full-back, he has the necessary skill set to play in the engine room and showed that against Arsenal.<\/p>\n

The England star can pass the ball, carry it and protect it with his strength. When Romeo Lavia is back from injury, you suspect that the Belgian will start alongside Caicedo in midfield for Chelsea\u2019s big games.<\/p>\n

However, until then, the likelihood is that Maresca will continue to utilise James centrally. It must be a big relief at Stamford Bridge<\/a> that he has overcome his own injury problems.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Despite going down to 10 men, Chelsea were able to earn a point against Arsenal and have their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":292420,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[218,177,101,33825,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-292419","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-reece-james","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-theo-walcott","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292419\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/292420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}