There were 18 minutes still to play at Stamford Bridge on Thursday evening when Thomas Tuchel opted to make a double change to his Chelsea side against Leicester City. Off went N'Golo Kante and Christian Pulisic. On came Ruben Loftus-Cheek and somewhat strangely, Cesar Azpilicueta.
Given the contest was level at 1-1, there appeared little need for the Spaniard, who at 32 years old remains an excellent one-vs-one defender but not a consistent threat in the final third. Yet it soon became apparent as to why Azpilicueta was called upon. Tuchel was going to let Reece James run wild.
The academy graduate has been used at right wing-back for much of the campaign; it's the position he started in against Leicester and one from which he claimed an assist for Marcos Alonso's equaliser. But James has experience of playing in midfield and with very little riding on the final result against Leicester, it was the ideal chance for Tuchel to run an experiment.
