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James' Chelsea statement, Fernandez wows and wonderkid sends Maresca message

Chelsea return to action in less than a week's time as Tottenham come to Stamford Bridge in a crucial Premier League London derby.

The Blues are not in action this weekend with the FA Cup quarter-finals taking place, but Premier League football returns just a few days later. The international break is technically now over with players returning to Cobham in the coming days as they fly back from all around the world.

For Reece James, it was a very productive international break. Reuniting with Thomas Tuchel, the Chelsea captain had a brief cameo appearance in last week's win over Albania and then was handed his first start in almost three years against Latvia. In the first-half at Wembley, James opened the scoring for the Three Lions with an exceptional free-kick into the top corner.

It was not so good for Levi Colwill, though, who was called up to Tuchel's first squad as England boss but was an unused substitute in both of the Three Lions' matches. The good news for Chelsea is that Colwill has essentially been handed a two-week rest and should theoretically be fresh for the remaining nine fixtures of the Premier League season.

Filip Jorgensen was called up to the Denmark squad but the goalkeeper was not used in their two matches against Portugal, with Kasper Schmeichel preferred between the posts. Meanwhile, Marc Cucurella had around 210 minutes under his belt for Spain as they were forced to extra-time and then penalties against the Netherlands in the Nations League quarter-final.

Josh Acheampong captained England Under-19s to a win and clean sheet against Portugal earlier in the week. The 18-year-old defender also got himself some minutes against Turkey and Wales before that, as well as Shim Mheuka and Tyrique George. Mheuka scored the young Lions' second goal in the 2-0 win against Wales.

Moises Caicedo played the full 90 minutes for Ecuador as they played out a goalless draw with Chile in Nunoa. The Chelsea midfielder also played from start to finish as his country beat Venezuela 2-1 just a few days before. With the Blues being out of the FA Cup, at least the South American stars have a bit more time to recover from all of the travel before next week's clash with Spurs.

The same applies to Enzo Fernandez, who played every minute in Argentina's wins against Uruguay and then Brazil. Fernandez, who has been in brilliant form for Chelsea recently, has been producing similar moments for his country as well.

After Julian Alvarez opened the scoring on four minutes against Brazil, Fernandez then doubled Argentina's lead not too long after. He then turned provider with a sensational pass to Liverpool's Alexis Mac Allister to restore Argentina's two-goal advantage after Matheus Cunha had given them some hope at the Estadio Mas Monumental.

Pedro Neto, meanwhile, did not even make the matchday squad for Portugal as they overcame Denmark in the second-leg of the Nations League quarter-final. Neto, though, did complete 90 minutes in the first-leg as they were beaten 1-0 by the Danes.

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