Gary Neville has leapt to Trent Alexander-Arnold's defense after Reece James' poor performance during Chelsea's 3-1 defeat to Manchester City at the Etihad.

James who is typically renowned for his exceptional defensive skills and attacking threat, had an off night against Pep Guardiola's side. The Blues’ captain struggled to contain Josko Gvardiol and Omar Marmoush, who wreaked havoc down Chelsea's right-hand side. Gvardiol was given ample space on the left flank to make darting runs, while Marmoush played as an effective second striker, constantly running in behind Chelsea’s defense.

Enzo Maresca will likely be disappointed with the performance of key players like James, as their latest defeat sees Chelsea drop to sixth place in the Premier League.

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There has often been debate amongst soccer fans about who is the better right-back out of James and Alexander-Arnold. Gary Neville was vocal in his criticism of James' performance on Saturday, suggesting that he, like Alexander-Arnold, should be held accountable for a poor defensive display.

Speaking on the Gary Neville podcast, the pundit said: "Reece James had a poor first half. We regularly have a go at Trent Alexander-Arnold for being quite poor defensively but he doesn’t half deliver going forward.

“James is fantastic on the ball. He isn’t quite Alexander-Arnold but he isn’t far away in terms of his delivery. But he didn’t bring anything to that game. I know he is a right-back but he has to do more, he didn’t bright anything to that game."

Neville suggested that, with his quality, James should have been more of a threat to Matheus Nunes and Abdukodir Khusanov but was notably absent throughout the game.

The Manchester United legend added: “Reece, they got down your side the whole first half. And by the way, on top of that, you didn’t go forward to support [Noni] Madueke at all and put wicked crosses in. Imagine him putting in crosses into [Abdukodir] Khusanov, that back post with [Matheus] Nunes.”

“City’s right centre-back and right-back didn’t have a cross to feel from Reece James and they should have had lots of crosses from Reece James to feel.”