It’s time for James Justin’s Premier League ascension: Leicester

Ben Chilwell has underperformed in 2019/20, he needs to be dropped for at least a few games. If James Justin does well, he should get a shot at the big time.

Ben Chilwell hasn’t been himself this season, truly. There have been glimpses of the talented young man who dragged himself from the shadow of veteran Christian Fuchs. Consequently becoming Leicester City’s No.3 and England’s go to guy at left-back under Gareth Southgate.

Though there hasn’t been nearly enough ideas, effervescence, systematic crossing excellence or quite as dogged defending as Foxes fans want from Chilwell. Don’t get us wrong: we want the best for the team, club and players above all else.

Although if a youthful star is out-of-form, like the Three Lions defender, and there’s a capable replacement – he must be benched. It might sound harsh but it’s better for the side.

At present opposition outfits are targeting ‘Chilly’ down the right. We saw former Leicester City man Riyad Mahrez go at the defensive-minded Fox, a stratagem overseen by Manchester City’s masterful Pep Guardiola. Then Norwich doing the same with Max Aarons. But that wasn’t the only case, loads of teams are getting joy down the right due to the currently weak 23-year-old.

What’s next for Leicester City’s left-back

Basically, with Birmingham upcoming in the FA Cup, Brendan Rodgers effectively needs to experiment and alter his standard starting line-up – not rest or rotate. Fuchs or James Justin can come in on the left side; if it’s a wingback set-up then Justin can play there as he did for Luton Town.

One of the main issues with the current Foxes left-sided defender is that he seems to run forward, often at great speed, but as soon as an opponent approaches he has no invention or panics. Justin can provide the creativity that modern fullbacks have to on the right or left. Ricardo Pereira can move forward on either side, too: leaving the right-back position an option for Justin as well.

However, Rodgers has strongly implied that the best formation for the players might be a three centre-backs layout. In that case, in FoL’s opinion, Justin should be left wingback and Ricardo right. Justin is rapid, can defend, assist, score and supply key passes – it’s time for his shot at the big time with Premier League ascension.