With his side trailing 2-1, substitute James marked his first Premier League outing in more than two months by curling in a point-saving free-kick.

It was a great moment for anyone of a Blue persuasion, as Stamford Bridge erupted, Maresca leapt to his feet and our skipper roared with delight.

‘I am very happy for him, he deserved that after a difficult moment,' Maresca said during his post-match press conference.

'It also gave us the point so I am happy for him and I am happy for us.’

The Italian continued: 'I am so happy for him that he had this moment and the target for him now is to be fit until the end [of the season] and for him to help us in the way we want to play.’

With regular free-kick taker Cole Palmer still on the pitch and also standing over the ball, it was initially unclear who would take the crucial shot in the 90+5 minute.

'Reece can compare with Cole in terms of free-kicks because he is very good,' Maresca added. 'We decided for Reece and he scored and we are all happy because at least we took a point.’

Maresca was left slightly frustrated by only taking a point and with the second half showing, having dominated the opening period.

Chelsea had taken the lead after just 13 minutes through a composed Cole Palmer finish, following some brilliant hold-up play by Nicolas Jackson.

The Blues had a host of further opportunities, with Bournemouth goalkeeper Mark Travers making a string of fine saves during the first half.

But our level of performance dropped after the Cherries equalised through Justin Kluivert's penalty and the visitors then took the lead courtesy of a fine strike by Antoine Semenyo.

It looked as though we were going to leave empty-handed, despite one of the most dominant opening 45 minutes of the season. That is until the fifth minute of injury-time when James stepped up to strike.

Maresca said: ‘It was probably one of our best first halves of the season. The way we were playing on the ball and off the ball, the way we created so many chances, we had around 15 shots, and the first half has to finish with a different score because at least 2-0 was what we deserved.

‘Then in the second half, after the penalty, we dropped a little bit and we probably need to understand the reason why.

‘The feeling is like a little bit of a shame because when you play the way you played in the first half, where we played really, really good, you need to be clinical.’