Darren Bent has told talkSPORT that Chelsea defender Reece James is pushing Liverpool ace Trent Alexander-Arnold to be the Premier League’s best right-back this season.
James delivered an influential display as Chelsea beat their London rivals Arsenal 2-0 at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday. The 21-year-old laid Romelu Lukaku up to break the deadlock into an empty net, before smashing a powerful effort past Bernd Leno later in the first half.
Kieran Tierney often struggled to find a way to mark James, with the £100,000-a-week full-back constantly offering an attacking outlet. Yet Bent also admires what James brings to the table defensively, and feels it is an area where he thrives over Alexander-Arnold.
“I genuinely think that Reece James is pushing Trent in terms of being the best right-back,” Bent said. “I get it, Trent with his deliveries, there’s no one better than him. But his [James’] deliveries are not far off him and defensively he’s better, Reece James is better.”
Alexander-Arnold also provided an assist over the weekend when the 22-year-old created Sadio Mane’s goal and Liverpool’s second against Burnley. It marked the 13-cap England defender’s first of the campaign, after producing seven last term – his worst in three years.
James matched his career-best return of two assists in a top-flight season last term, while scoring once. He additionally showed his defensive strength by featuring at centre-half at the end of the season, as well as the FA Cup final – which Chelsea lost 1-0 to Leicester City.
Is Chelsea’s James the better right-back to Liverpool ace Alexander-Arnold?
James attempted nine crosses against Arsenal on Sunday, but only found a Chelsea player with just two deliveries, per SofaScore. Alexander-Arnold, meanwhile, played 12 balls into the Burnley box on Saturday and found a Liverpool player five times.
Alexander-Arnold also created more goalscoring opportunities with seven key passes to James’ four. However, the £180,000-a-week Liverpool ace was less productive defensively with two tackles to three and was dribbled past twice more than the Chelsea product.
Those aspects were consistent trends of their respective performances in Premier League fixtures last season, too. Alexander-Arnold averaged a higher volume of crosses-per-game with 1.99 to 1.32, but James offered more tackles (2.08 to 1.66). Yet more players dribbled past the Chelsea star (0.87 to 0.59) than the Liverpool full-back.
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