Chelsea have been given cause for optimism over Reece James after reports suggested the right-back\u2019s current problem is not severe. The defender, who has missed no fewer than 68 games for club and country since the start of the 2023\u201324 season, is not believed to face a long-term layoff.<\/p>\n
The Telegraph\u2019s Matt Law reports James\u2019s current ailment is both \u201cminor\u201d and \u201congoing\u201d. BBC Sport\u2019s Nizaar Kinzella states that while James would have missed the two England games anyway, the decision to remove him from the squad was more of a precaution, rather than an enforced problem.<\/p>\n
Inside Chelsea there is confidence the club captain will be available when domestic fixtures resume. Maresca\u2019s side are next scheduled to travel to Nottingham Forest on Oct. 18.<\/p>\n
Given James\u2019s well-documented injury history, Maresca has been careful in managing his minutes, aiming to shield him from a congested calendar and prioritise recovery. Last season James was omitted from the league phase squad for the Conference League but returned to take a rotation role across competitions, with Malo Gusto commonly deployed as his deputy.<\/p>\n
Recent team selection suggests progress. James has started four of Chelsea\u2019s last six matches, was absent for the Carabao Cup victory over Lincoln City and was introduced as a late substitute to help see out the win over Benfica.<\/p>\n
There is also optimism regarding Mois\u00e9s Caicedo after the international break. Caicedo was left out of the Ecuador squad and is not believed to be injured; the midfielder has been rested to avoid unnecessary risk during an international window comprised of two friendlies.<\/p>\n
Chelsea will hope the cautious approach pays off as they prepare to return to league action and seek stability from their defensive spine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Chelsea expect Reece James to return soon after an ailment described as “minor” and “ongoing” in Oct.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3622,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[190,172],"tags":[1006,1066,1100],"class_list":["post-3623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea","category-epl","tag-captaincy","tag-carabao-cup","tag-defence"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3623\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}