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Football London
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Sam Hill

James, Loftus-Cheek, Kante: Chelsea injury news and return dates ahead of West Ham clash

Thomas Tuchel has confirmed that both Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Reece James are available for selection for Chelsea's game against West Ham United.

The Blues suffered a disappointing defeat earlier this week after dropping points for the third time this season. Chelsea were dealt a 2-1 defeat against Southampton, despite summer signing Raheem Sterling opening the scoring.

Chelsea were without both Reece James and Trevoh Chalobah after the pair were ruled out prior to the game on the south coast, with Conor Gallagher absent as he served his one match suspension. Tuchel provided an update on the current injury situation at Stamford Bridge ahead of West Ham's visit this afternoon.

Here, football.london takes a look at the latest injury updates within the Chelsea squad.

READ MORE: UEFA put Chelsea, Man City, Barcelona and more clubs on FFP watchlist and make financial request

Reece James and Ruben Loftus-Cheek

James' omission from Tuesday’s squad that travelled to face Southampton came as a surprise to many.

It was later revealed the Chelsea right-back was struggling with illness and was left out as a precaution for the trip to St Mary’s. Tuchel had to revert to a four-man defence with James having had to play as a right centre-back at the start of the season.

Loftus-Cheek was taken off at half-time during the defeat to Saints, with many assuming it was purely a tactical change made by Tuchel. Mateo Kovacic replaced the 26-year-old in midfield, but it later emerged that it was an enforced substitute.

BT Sport's coverage of the game showed pictures of Loftus-Cheek with some strapping around his knee but the midfielder had actually picked up a hamstring injury.

Speaking in his pre-West Ham press conference, the Chelsea manager said: "They're back in training and are both available."

Trevoh Chalobah

Chalobah missed out on featuring in the squad that travelled to St Mary's on Tuesday night after picking up an injury in the 2-1 win over Leicester last weekend. The English defender was denied a move away from Stamford Bridge this summer with Tuchel blocking a move to Serie A side AC Milan.

Chalobah has now recovered from injury and is likely to feature in the matchday squad to play West Ham.

N'Golo Kante

Chelsea’s star midfielder continues to recover from the hamstring injury which he picked up during the game against Tottenham.

In his press conference on Friday, Tuchel said: "So in the moment, it's only N'Golo out. Everyone else is available."

Speaking on August 26, Tuchel discussed Kante's injury and said: "With N'Golo, we are talking about weeks. We are talking about four weeks plus."

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