Reece James suffers recurrent injury on his return for Chelsea

The
right-back
missed
the
World
Cup
finals
because
of
a
knee
blow
sustained
on
Champions
League
duty
against
Milan
in
October.

He
was
back
in
the
Chelsea
lineup
on
Tuesday
after
the
injury
and
looked
in
decent
touch.

However,
he
lasted
only
51
minutes
before
injury
struck
again,
with
Chelsea
2-0
ahead
at
the
time.

James
appeared
to
feel
a
twinge
after
beating
Bournemouth’s
Jaidon
Anthony
to
the
ball,
and
he
promptly
signalled
to
the
bench,
demanding
a
replacement
for
him.

The
England
defender
went
down
to
the
ground
in
agony
covering
his
face
and
looked
absolutely
distraught.
He
was
treated
by
Chelsea
medical
staff
before
being
able
to
stand
up
and
walk
off
the
pitch,
passing
head
coach
Graham
Potter
as
he
departed
to
have
the
pain
checked
out.

Before
the
game,
Chelsea
coach
Graham
Potter
had
described
James
as
being
“in
a
good
place”
again
after
the
“brutal”
experience
of
having
to
sit
out
the
World
Cup.

But
the
Blues
manager
was
concerned
about
his
player
and
couldn’t
confirm
how
long
James
will
be
missing
after
the
latest
injury.

“It’s
the
same
area,
so
we
are
concerned.
I’m
not
sure
on
the
state
of
the
injury.
Too
early
to
say.
You
can
see
his
quality.
It’s
a
blow
for
us.
Fingers
crossed.
We’ll
see
how
bad
it
is,”
Potter
said
after
the
win.

The
Chelsea
manager
also
confirmed
that
the
plan
was
to
play
James
60
minutes,
and
the
player
was
unfortunate
to
get
injured
around
the
51st
minute,
which
is
even
more
agonising
for
him
and
devastating
for
the
player.
James
has
been
one
of
their
best
performers
and
his
injury
in
October
put
a
real
dent
to
the
Blues’ progress.

Chelsea
ended
their
five-match
winless
run
with
a
2-0
win
over
Bournemouth.
Kai
Havertz
and
Mason
Mount
scored
the
goals
for
them.