Following reports in the British media that Reece James, an England defender, would miss the World Cup in Qatar, manager Graham Potter of Chelsea indicated on Friday that James will consult a specialist over the weekend to ascertain the severity of his knee injury.
Reece James will seek medical advice with a knee injury prompting World Cup concerns
The 22-year-old James needed medical attention on the field after suffering the injury late in the second half of Tuesday’s 2-0 Champions League triumph against AC Milan. James was eventually taken off the field. James’ recovery time was not given by Potter, who was also unable to give a timeline. However, any extended absence would be detrimental to England, especially since Kyle Walker of Manchester City, who plays right back, is questionable for the World Cup, which runs from November 20 to December 18 due to groyne surgery.
Before Chelsea’s Premier League trip to Aston Villa on Sunday, Potter told reporters, “Yesterday he felt not too awful, but until you get these things checked you never know.”
“There’s not much I can offer until we have it. It would be guesswork based on my viewpoint. Let’s wait and see. There is no point in considering an apocalyptic scenario just yet. Wesley Fofana’s knee injury against Milan at Stamford Bridge last week had already compromised Chelsea’s defence, and Potter predicted that he wouldn’t be back before the World Cup. N’Golo Kante, a midfielder who hasn’t played since mid-August because of a hamstring issue, is also still out after experiencing a setback in his recuperation and will visit a specialist this weekend, according to Potter.
Chelsea, who just won their fourth straight game in all competitions to maintain their perfect record under Potter’s leadership, will visit Villa Park in excellent form. The lads have great attitudes, and I’ve been impressed with them, added Potter. We wanted to utilise the group as well as possible because we were playing a few games in a short period of time. Game on game progression is the key goal. The team and I both have more to give, therefore I don’t think we’ve reached our potential.
Steven Gerrard’s Villa are now in 16th place in the league standings with nine points after the same number of games as Chelsea, who are currently in fourth place with 16 points after eight games.