5/6 duels, 4 crosses and 2 chances created – Chelsea’s best player dominates both ends with no reward

James was taken off in the second half against Burnley. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

5/6 duels, 4 crosses and 2 chances created – Chelsea’s best player dominates both ends with no reward

Originally posted on Chelsea News | By Will Faulks | Last updated Mar 2, 2026 6:23 AM ET

Reece James managed to star for Chelsea despite the loss against Arsenal. He just needed some teammates on his level.

It was an utterly painful defeat for Chelsea against Arsenal on Sunday, for a number of reasons. The Blues watched their Champions League hopes dwindle further with more dropped points.

What made the whole thing particularly frustrating was that we lost by conceding two corners and getting a red card. Those were the priority things we wanted to avoid. But some players still manager to put in a good performance regardless of the result.

Chelsea’s top rated outfielder does his thing despite bad circumstances

FotMob’s player ratings has two outfield players rated at a 7.1, with nobody else on the team higher than a 6.8.

Reece James was obviously one of them. Chelsea’s goal was effectively his, given one of the numerous perfect in-swinging corners he put in was headed past David Raya by a panicking Piero Hincapie.

James completed 50 of his 53 passes, hit 4 accurate crosses and 2 long balls, and created 2 chances as well as putting in a shift defensively. His duels – 4 of 5 ground duels won and 1 of 1 of his aerial, set the standard for the whole team. He didn’t commit a single foul either, vital when you’re facing a set piece menace team like this.

It’s days like this where you see James and just wish he had some teammates who could play at this level. We would be so much better if we just had a couple of others with his quality. But time and again his perfect deliveries were nodded wide.

This article first appeared on Chelsea News and was syndicated with permission.

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