Reece James will be available when Chelsea face Bournemouth on Tuesday but N Golo Kante is out until at least February with his hamstring injury, Graham Potter revealed.
James missed out on Gareth Southgate s England squad for the World Cup in Qatar after sustaining a knee injury in October, leading the right-back to describe himself as devastated .
Chelsea confirmed James returned to training as the Blues were put through their paces in Abu Dhabi earlier this month, and the 23-year-old could now feature against the Cherries at Stamford Bridge.
However, fellow defenders Ben Chilwell and Wesley Fofana remain unavailable, with the latter suffering a setback in his bid to recover from a knee injury.
Wesley had a little setback, which can happen. It s a couple of weeks, he won t be available for the game, head coach Potter said on Friday.
Reece is back in, he s been training and completed 65 minutes in the week [in a behind-closed-doors friendly against Brentford].
We re still without Ruben [Loftus-Cheek], Ben Chilwell and Kante.
Raz and Reece!
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC)
Kante has not featured since Chelsea – then under the leadership of Thomas Tuchel – drew 2-2 with Tottenham in August, and Potter is unlikely to have the midfielder available any time soon.
He ll be a while, he ll be [back at] the end of February or the start of March, Potter said when asked about Kante s condition. It s due to the surgery, the minimum period was four months.
Kante s contract with Chelsea expires at the end of the season, and with no new deal agreed, the 2018 World Cup winner has been linked with a move to Barcelona.
However, Potter was unwilling to discuss the midfielder s future, adding: My focus is just to help him get back fit as soon as possible.
Everyone knows the quality he has, so it s just about helping him get on the pitch, helping him to get fit, and I m looking forward to seeing him play football, as we haven t seen him.
