When Thomas Tuchel was first appointed as Frank Lampard's successor at Chelsea, the German coach seemed to favour the qualities of Callum Hudson-Odoi when selecting his team.
The English talent had featured sporadically under Lampard but once the managerial change was made, the youngster started five of his Tuchel's first seven Premier League games in charge before picking up a knock.
Hudson-Odoi was deployed as a wing-back more often than not, with Tuchel attempting to harvest his ability to progress the ball into valuable areas once assuming possession.
Since, Hudson-Odoi has contributed but he hasn't managed to keep a spot as a regular starter, with Reece James evolving to become the team's first-choice wing-back on the right flank.
James has been in remarkable form this season but right now, Chelsea are in the midst of an ongoing injury crisis in the centre of their midfield department.
Before his team's clash with Zenit on Wednesday night, Tuchel confirmed that Jorginho, N'Golo Kante and Mateo Kovacic were unable to feature, with Ruben Loftus-Cheek also picking up a problem during the warm-up. While Jorginho will be back for the clash against Leeds, Tuchel admitted in his press conference that the Italian will be playing through the pain - not an ideal situation.
The Blues boss is having to experiment in order to overcome injury problems, and one option that he's exploring involves Hudson-Odoi and James.
Although the latter is establishing himself as one of the best right-sided defenders in the country, he also has experience as a central midfielder, having played in the middle of the park for Chelsea and Wigan Athletic while on loan.
He is forced to vacate his right wing-back role when in midfield but as a temporary solution, Hudson-Odoi is capable of filling in as he did at the beginning of Tuchel's tenure.
Fielding James in central midfield and Hudson-Odoi as a wing-back is less than ideal, but it was an option that was used to face Zenit during the week and it could be the answer for Tuchel until his players return to full fitness.
