James faces another month out with knee injury

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Chelsea say they expect Reece James to be sidelined for up to a month with another knee problem.

The England international returned to action in Tuesday’s home win over Bournemouth, having missed the World Cup because of a knee ligament injury.

However, he went off early in the second half and now faces another spell out of action.


The injury is to the same knee and a scan has confirmed that James will be unavailable for the next few weeks.

Chelsea won Tuesday’s game 2-0 but their performance deteriorated after James went off, and Blues boss Graham Potter admitted: “You can see the quality Reece brings down that right side, in the first half especially.

“To see him then go off I think probably affects the stadium, the team, and everything. Not that that’s an excuse but we’re human beings as well and it’s someone we care a lot about.

“There’s going to be a little bit of concern and worry, and I think that’s quite natural, especially with the results we’ve had. You want to try and hold on to your win and that affected our performance in the second half.

“He’s a world class player. You see from the outside, but it’s not until you work with him that you realise how good he is.

“He’s an incredible player, so he would fit into any team in the world, can play in any team in the world, so any team would miss him.”