James has lined up on the right-hand side of a back three in both of our last two matches, against Real Madrid and Crystal Palace, and has looked just as efficient despite his most prominent position over the last few seasons being at wing-back.

The Cobham graduate was outstanding in controlling the threat of Brazilian forward Vinicius Junior at the Bernabeu a week ago, and the boss cites James’s current fitness levels as one of the many reasons why he has been lining up a bit deeper than usual.

‘The back three is a little bit less demanding physically, in comparison to the wing-back position, especially given he is coming back from a muscle injury over so many weeks,’ the boss explains.

‘It's a bit of an advantage to have him in the back three because it's less physically demanding. But this is the next step. How many games can Reece play at wing-back? If he plays at wing-back during the season on a level where he is decisive, it is a bit less physically demanding in terms of acceleration and high speed in the back three. This helps us have him on the pitch for more minutes.

‘He can play both positions brilliantly, we only have him once and we need to decide, but this is why we have him there at the moment. I love him in both positions.’

One other Academy graduate that can play on the right of the backline is Trevoh Chalobah.

Our no.14 has not featured for the Blues since our Champions League second leg with Lille in mid-March and Tuchel has revealed this is down to the form of other players, rather than due to any injury trouble.

‘It's hard decisions at the moment. Maybe he feels as though these decisions are against him but they are actually for other players. We recently had Reece James playing in this position in the back three because of his physicality and also his speed against key players on the left sides of our opponents,’ the boss says.

‘Trevoh played a lot and has had a very good season so far. He had a little dip in form some weeks ago, but he's back in full shape in training now.

‘We had a talk recently. I cannot prove it with game minutes, but he's at the level where he was at the beginning of the season. It's impressive as he has overcome a period where things felt more difficult for him, like during the winter period where he made a few mistakes, and he wasn’t a comfortable on the pitch or as reliable as he used to be. This is normal,’ the German adds.

‘Now he's back in full strength, now he needs to be patient as we have Thiago Silva in shape, Andreas Christensen back from injury and Reece James played in his position. There are the reasons. He's taking it very well, he trains excellent. This is what we demand from him. He will see it with minutes in the next matches.’