OUR BAND OF MAKE BELIEVE
Streetwise Blues are living the dream after chop-and-change start threatened season
REECE JAMES has admitted even Chelsea’s players can hardly believe the way their season has turned out.
Chelsea are in the semi-finals of the Champions League, face Manchester City in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley on Saturday and are still in the hunt for a place in the top four.
It has been a turbulent season, with manager Frank Lampard axed in January and replaced with Thomas Tuchel, but they have rejuvenated their campaign since then.
The Blues have kept 13 clean sheets under Tuchel, right, and should fear no one in the Champions League.
Defender James said: “The season started off a bit strange and if you’d said we would have been here at the start of the season, then we probably wouldn’t have believed you. It just shows what’s possible if everyone gets their head down and we work as a team.
“As we’ve progressed in the Champions League, obviously the games have got harder and it’s higher stakes.
“I’ve never been in this position before, like a lot of the other young lads, and we’re learning a lot on the way. “You can’t go into games with any fear. You can acknowledge a good team, but you can’t go in worrying. “We’re a very good team as well and we have many strengths and we play to our strengths as well, and I think that’s shown over recent weeks. I just hope we can continue our good form and keep improving as a team.
“We need to have our heads up and go into the games positively. We can’t fear anyone.
“We feel very confident. We work hard defensively and do a lot of work in training on how we defend as a unit.
“We make sure we take that into games.”
The 21-year-old also said that Chelsea’s youngsters are having to learn to be more streetwise to get free-kicks and decisions.
Porto kicked and fouled Christian Pulisic throughout the second leg on Tuesday, but James said sometimes players just have to give a bit back.
The England international added: “That’s part of playing in Europe and in the Champions League. When you play against foreign teams, they know what to do to get through games, so you sometimes have to give some back to them as well.”