It reflects how influential Reece James has been at Chelsea this season that his best-attacking stats rank alongside rival Premier League players who play further up the pitch.
After scoring Chelsea's first and assisting the third goal against Burnley on his league return last month, James became the only defender in Europe's top five leagues to have more than five goals and assists this season.
The latest stat of note only further proves his attacking threat which Thomas Tuchel will hope to fully unleash in the remaining weeks of this season as Chelsea hope to secure a Champions League qualification spot before May.
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As noted by WhoScored, Reece James has played a direct hand in 11 goals in 17 Premier League matches this season. That's as many as Emile Smith Rowe (in 24 apps) and more than Phil Foden (10 in 21 appearances).
This stat is not that shocking given his incredible form in the earlier parts of this season, combined with his opposite wingback Ben Chilwell to help tear Premier League defences apart during the autumn.
Given these creative numbers, it will be of great regret to Thomas Tuchel that James has only played 17 of Chelsea's 28 games in the league so far, demonstrating how seriously key injuries have affected the German's plans.
Both Smith-Rowe and Foden are key creative forces for their respective teams, operating either as forwards or attacking midfielders whilst James, a wingback, has more defensive responsibilities and dominates one side of the pitch.
Putting the frustrating injury woes for the 20-year-old to one side, this is the creative presence Chelsea fans hoped could be realised when he broke through under Frank Lampard in the 2019/20 season.
Although the numbers for his first two seasons in Blue have not competed with the productivity this term, a lot of that can be attributed to poor finishing, with his Premier League xA (Expected assists) being higher across the previous two seasons than his actual assist tally.
This season, he has exceeded his xA of 4.62 from 17 league games with six to his name already via Understat. Tuchel will hopefully be boosted by the imminent return of the Cobham graduate who was pictured in training on Wednesday, as Chelsea prepare for the visit of Brentford on Saturday.
After recovering from a hamstring injury picked up in December, James picked up another knock which ruled him out of international duty for England to recover at Cobham. The hope is James will be ready for the Champions League quarter-final with Real Madrid next week and the FA Cup semi-final against Crystal Palace on the 17th of April.
As stats have proven, when James is on the pitch for Chelsea he helps create goals on a consistent basis, becoming one of the league's productive machines despite being classed as a defender.
