Ashley Cole says the emergence of Reece James at Chelsea will motivate Cesar Azpilicueta.

The Blues captain has been replaced at right-back by teenager James, who has played beyond his years this season.

But Cole thinks the situation could benefit Azpilicueta.

"I wouldn't say his time is coming to an end," Cole said when asked about Azpilicueta's future. "Tactically sometimes maybe the manager wants fresh ideas, fresh players.

"It comes with the job, you can't play every game. It happened to me: Cesar took my place. He's still the Chelsea captain.

"It's not about just what he does on the pitch, it's how he motivates the players off it and I've been around that and seen how good he is at that.

"I don't think it will worry him. It will probably spur him on to be even better and train even harder, which is hard to do because he is a beast at training."