James, 23, has been beset by injuries in both last season and this season.

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But what may be even more worrying for him is his seeming allergy to winning games.

James, who came on off the bench in Chelsea’s 2-0 defeat to Brentford, has not been involved in a Blues win in the league this calendar year.

The defender has made 11 league appearances in 2023.

And not a single one of these has yielded a win.

In fact, looking to all competitions, James has won just one club game in 2023.

This was a 2-0 win over Borussia Dortmund in the second leg of their Champions League last 16 tie.

James was named Chelsea captain in the summer by Mauricio Pochettino.

However, after just one game he fell foul to a hamstring injury.

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Chelsea had picked up two league wins on the bounce against Fulham and Burnley and were on course to beat Arsenal before throwing away all their good work in the closing stages to draw 2-2.

James only featured for three minutes of the clash with the Gunners.

Today he featured for 23 minutes as he tried to swing the game in Chelsea’s favour, though could not help the toothless Blues.

Taking to X, formerly Twitter, one fan said: “Things always seem to fall apart as soon as he enters the pitch.”

A second said: “This guy is a curse to Chelsea.”

A third joked: “James got back from injury and Chelsea went back to default setting 😭”

Both Chelsea and James will be hoping they can get over this curse on their visit to Tottenham next week, though it will be a tough ask with Ange Postecoglou‘s side sitting at the top of the table.